Regret – A One Sided View

Regret is a coping mechanism.

Coping mechanisms are the strategies people often use in the face of stress and/or trauma to help manage painful or difficult emotions.

Regret is an attack against self – deceptive in my opinion – to shift your focus from your mistake

You begin to beat your self so hard for making the decision that brought you to where you are.

Regret takes your focus away from the process. It robs you from enjoying the joy of embarking on that journey.

Yes, you failed.
Yes, it did not come back as expected
Yes, you did not achieve your desired outcome

Yet, one of the many decisions is out of the way. Now, you have more focus and you are closer to the answer.

Now, your alternatives are slimmer and just maybe, your answer is nigh.

Regret takes these possibilities away and gives you a hammer to hit hard on your head.

“I should have gone this way”
“I should have done it like this”
“What was I thinking?”
“Oh, I’m so dumb. How did I not think about that?”

We are wired to appraise regrets so we can push the blame on someone – yourself or another

Regret robs you of the opportunity to be analytical. To think through why you made the journey you did. Where you went wrong. How you missed it and most importantly, how you can get back on track.

Regrets doesn’t provide such answers just blames and cuss words.

Why not move on to the next alternative if it doesn’t seem to be working. Also, sharpen your decision making skills to minimize the possibilities of regrets.