How to deal with regrets?

Everyone experiences regret from time to time. Regret is a normal and healthy emotion that causes us to reflect on our behavior and provides us a means to grow. However, it can be an unhealthy thing when we don’t have a healthy way to process it. Instead of processing it and eventually letting it go, we can get trapped in a cycle of ruminating on our regrets instead of healing and growing from them. So how to deal with regrets ?

Here are 5 tips on how to deal with regrets

1. Take 100% responsibility for whatever role you played.

Regret lives in the past. There’s nothing you can do to change what is already done. All you can do is try to repair whatever damage was done and work to not make the same mistake in the future. I know it’s sounds easy but it’s one of the biggest things that you can possibly do, because it requires a degree of self-awareness and acceptance of one’s flaws. Take 100% full responsibility for all your mistakes and your circumstances in your life because it will help you make better decisions, take right actions, and work to prevent the mistakes of the past.

2. Practice the positive always

When you find yourself focusing on regrets, shape your thoughts by exploring the silver lining in whatever you did. Ask yourself: “What were the lessons learned? How did I gain wisdom out of this particular situation?” If you take your regrets seriously, then it is better for you to take the lessons that you learned from your regrets and mistakes seriously instead. Move on by taking new action. Switch your mind away from the past to focus on the present. What can you do now to improve your situation ?

3. Set new goals.

As an answer to that question, find something positive and meaningful to do now ! It may not be the same things you were engaged in when you were working, but the underlying themes may be similar: traveling, making new friends, learning something new. By setting new goals, you can pave the way to your future success with the wisdom you’ve gained from past failures and regrets.

4. Embrace failure and celebrate effort

After setting new goals, you’re going to have to take actions and some risks, regardless of your fears and excuses. Anyone that tries anything is going to inevitably fail at it, sooner or later. That’s just the way it is. You can’t accomplish anything without some risk. And if you’re willing to take some risk, you’re already ahead of the person who never got off the couch or out of the dreams bouncing around in their mind. You go out, you try, and you fail. That’s okay. Failure is really only a failure if you don’t learn from it. Failing at something today paves the way for the success of tomorrow. You learn what doesn’t work, what you can do better, what elements make you who you are. So go out, try, fail and repeat again !

Check out this post also: “How to overcome the fear of failure?”

5. Seek help

If you find yourself unable to stop thinking about regrets, consider counseling or going to a therapist or a psychologist. A lot of mental health experts agreed that cognitive behavioral therapy, in particular, emphasizes changing thought patterns that are destructive.

And that’s how to deal with regrets, ladies and gentlemen!