Rewind Button: A Fantasy or a Curse?
The Temptation of Time Travel: Would You Redo Your Past?
# Contemplating Life’s Crossroads of ‘What Ifs’: The Quest for a Second Chance
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It's the genuine connections and the spirit of true readership that I hold dear.Old and Wise — Song by The Alan Parsons Project¹
As far as my eyes can see Shadows are approaching me And to those I left behind I wanted you to know You’ve always shared my deepest thoughts You follow where I go
And oh, when I’m old and wise Bitter words mean little to me Autumn winds will blow right through me And someday in the midst of time When they asked me if I knew you I’d smile and say you were a friend of mine And the sadness would be lifted from my eyes Oh, when I’m old and wise
As far as my eyes can see There are shadows surrounding me And to those I leave behind I want you all to know You’ve always shared my darkest hours I’ll miss you when I go
And oh, when I’m old and wise Heavy words that tossed and blew me Like autumn winds will blow right through me And someday in the midst of time When they ask you if you knew me Remember that you were a friend of mine As the final curtain falls before my eyes Oh when I’m old and wise
As far as my eyes can see…
As a person who loves a nostalgic song, I really loved this song since young. What a sentimental song isn’t it? It felt almost like a poem to me. The poem that looks back over life, acknowledges the joys and sorrows. Finally, finding peace in the passage of time.
As humans, we all have moments of regret in our lives. Although life puts the bandage over time for those regretful moments and it just becomes part of our memory, it is often painful to think of those painful or sad memories.
I believe there is no one who doesn’t have regrets in life. Even the greatest person who has their name in history has regrets if you read their memoir. It’s simply because we are not designed to be perfect, yet we are trying to be the one.
1. What are the Types of Regrets We Face?
There are many forms of regrets but below are the examples of regrets people commonly have.
- Time that you could have spent with your parents and family.
- Study that you should have done ‘harder’.
- Love that you have missed.
- The relationship that slipped your hands.
- The business that you could have started.
- The career that you could have built.
These regrets often arise from the thinking like below:
- “I didn’t completely understand the situation or realize what mattered most.”
- “I was kind of in the dark about the whole thing and didn’t grasp the importance.”
- “I didn’t have a clear picture of the situation or what was truly significant.”
- “I didn’t put in my full effort. I know I could have achieved more.”
But often people don’t realize that you made your best choice then with the knowledge and information that you had at that moment.
Let’s Imagine This
There is a redo button right in front of you. This button will send you to any past moment of your life that you wish to go.
If you can go back to the past with all the knowledge/experience you obtained, will you choose to go back in life to change your future?
p.s. Please don’t be silly and tell me that you will buy bitcoins or Tesla/apple stocks.
2. Misconceptions about the True Nature of Success
People often mistakenly think there is “Success” and “Failure”. This concept suggests that the true nature of “Success” is often misunderstood. It’s not just about the result. It’s also about the journey towards achieving success. There is only “Success” and “Journey to Success”.
Let’s Picture This
To illustrate, consider a toddler attempting to walk. Each time the toddler falls, it’s not a failure but a step in the process towards eventually walking successfully. The average two-year-old falls 38 times a day.²
Can you imagine the baby giving up walking because he/she feels that failing is too painful? Can you imagine the parents blaming the baby for keep on failing?
Similarly, although you may think of your past as a failure or regrettable memory, it is merely a learning journey for you, and that pain has made you to be a greater self today. Nothing more, nothing less.
Now let’s go back to the previous question about pressing the button.
If you have chosen to press the redo button, how differently you will behave this time? Let’s look at the same agony that we faced earlier.
1. Time that you could have spent with your parent and family.
- Knowing that your parent and family will not be forever with you, would you have spent more quality time with your parents and family?
- Would you prioritize your time with your parent and family instead of wasting your time by watching some YouTube shorts and Instagram feeds?
- Would you have one more call with them telling them how much you love them and thanking them for the love that they have shared?
- Would you not want to spend one day with them to travel to the country that they always wanted to go to with you?
2. Study that you should have done ‘harder’.
- Would you study harder and be willing to learn more to change your future?
- Would you choose the course/study that will be important for your future/career/business?
3. Love that you have missed.
- Would you try your best shot to be with that person?
4. Relationship that slipped your hands.
- Would you try to contact them more often, and spend more quality time with them?
5. Business that you could have started.
- Instead of pushing it back with all the excuses, would you actually start small and try to achieve something?
6. Career that you could have built.
- Instead of complaining about your boss and colleagues, knowing that you are the captain of your ship, would you try your best to outperform?
- Would you be working hard first to get recognized and rewarded, instead of expecting your boss to reward you with a higher salary first to motivate you to work harder?
Unfortunately, we don’t have this button invented yet so we can’t change the past. However, try to think differently and change your perspective a little bit.
3. Paradigm Shift in Your Perspective of Redo
What if you were already sent back to the past from the future?
Let’s suppose you live in the future and have regrets about what happened on this date, and the future you from 10 years or 20 years away has sent you back to correct things to today’s date.
What would you do differently now?
Let’s live with this mindset.
You are already sent back to correct things that could have been done better and now is our time for action.
Right here, right now.
Whatever happened in the past doesn’t matter anymore. What’s important is the subsequent action that you take now.
Wrapping It Up — Learning from Yesterday for a Better Today
We often think about “What if I did things differently in the past?”. How great would it be to have a redo button in life? But here’s the catch; all the good or bad things happened before, it’s what made us who we are today.
So, instead of wishing to go back, let’s focus on today. We’ve got the chance to make our future cool, using what we know from before. Let’s be glad for what’s happened, good or bad. It’s all been a lesson for us. Time to look forward, using our past to help us, not hold us back. We’re in control of what’s next.
“You can’t go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending.”― C.S. Lewis
References
[1]: Genius (2024) | The Alan Parsons Project — Old and Wise Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
[2]: Lephart K. (2014) | Toddlers Weeble, Wobble and Fall Down — When Is It Cause for Concern? — Early Intervention Strategies for Success (veipd.org)
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