We all have regrets and wished that we had done some things differently. When we feel this way, it can bring sorrow to our lives. Our belief is that if we did something different, we might have been happier.
We often feel regret over different things in our lives such as:
- Not getting a better education.
- Making financial mistakes.
- Things that we chose not to do because we didn’t want to take a risk.
- Spending too much time at work.
- Not getting hat we want because of what others say.
- Making bad choices in friends.
- Not making happiness our top priority.
- Taking too much time worrying about what could have been.
The list could go on forever and when we regret things, it turns our mind into negative thinking. When we obsess over things we didn’t do or things we did, it can cause us to have an abundant amount of stress and can even lead to depression. Feeling this way can cause you to have lower self-esteem and not to be productive like you could be.
There are different things you can do to deal with your feelings of regret, and this can help to have a positive impact on your life.
Learn from It
One thing that you can do is to learn from your mistakes. Here are some things that you might be able to do to change your regrets into something productive:
- Learn to make better decisions. If you feel that you are making a wrong decision, analyze it.
- Try harder to get what you want.
- Go down a different path if you are on the wrong path.
- Learn too self-correct yourself.
- Forgive yourself of your mistakes.
- Forgive others for hurting you.
- Apologize if you need to.
- Work on who you are and do things to better yourself.
Think about different things that you regret in your life and why. Find out why you failed at something and then learn to understand and change the situation.
Accept Things You Cannot Control
You cannot be in control of everything that happens in life. When you are forced to make decisions or when things happen that are out of your control, accept it.
Life is not always what we want it to be and there will be things that happen. People have free will and no matter what we try to change, some things we cannot.
Take control of things you can but if you cannot, let it go.
Be Compassionate to Yourself
Learn to have self-compassion. When you are compassionate with yourself, you will be happier, and you will be more forgiving when you mess up.
Here are some things that you can do:
- Identify your regrets and write down how you can be compassionate with yourself.
- Write about your own self-esteem.
- Write about things you enjoy doing.
Look at what you wrote down and pay attention to how you can improve yourself. Learn to have more compassion and then you can forgive yourself of the things you regret.
What If?
Everyone has a what if in life, but you have to stop thinking about it. Stop asking things such as:
- What if I had gone another direction in life?
- What if I had said something different?
- What if I was more daring?
- What if I had stood up for myself more?
- What if I had more control of my life?
We can all talk about what if’s, but these things are not going to change things in your past. We all make mistakes but feeling bad for it is not going to make it go away.
Stop thinking of the what ifs and think about what you can do better in the future.
Dreams and Goals
Look at the dreams and goals that you have set in your life. If you need to change them, take time now to do that. If you have held on to a dream for a long time and you haven’t made it to fulfill that dream, chances are that you might want to change it and find something else to reach for.
Even if you have to change your dream, find things that you want to do that will make you happy. Learn to accept that some dreams are not reachable now but that you can change your dreams and still reach your goals.
If you have a dream that is not available to you, do not regret it, just modify it, and change it and reach it a different way.
What if You Were No Longer There in 5 Years?
Think about what you would do if you knew that you wouldn’t be around next week. What would you do? What would you remember? What would you regret the most? Instead of not being there next week, what if you were going to die in five years? What would you do different in your life than you are doing now?
Love Them
One thing that people regret in life is not telling their family and friends how much they love them. Do not ever forget to do this. Call them, write them, send them messages. You never know when the last day you will see them will be.
Failures into Learning Stones
We all must learn to look at our mistakes and to learn from them. Your life is meant to change, and things happen that we cannot change. Sometimes we make mistakes for a purpose and that is to learn from them.
It is okay to move on from the mistakes that you have made. Take your failures and turn them into learning stones.
Be Mindful
Pay attention to the way that you are thinking and talking. Stop focusing on your regrets and learn to focus on things that bring you life and peace. When you find yourself focusing on the past, say things such as:
- Living in the past will not help me appreciate what is happening to me now.
- I let go of anything I regret, and I am going to live in the now.
- The now is what is in front of me.
- This is happening just like it should be.
Start Again
Once you learn that we all make mistakes and we all have regrets, then it is time to start over again. Get your life together and realize that there are different paths that you can take in your life right now.
Stop living to where you focused on your failures and learn to focus on the new you. The version that you are living in right now is the path that you need to live in and the path you need to choose to have peace and happiness in your life.
Conclusion
Regret can take away all of your joy. Learn to live the best life that you can, and you can get past your regrets and find peace.
