Using Regret As A Tool for Personal Growth

Every experience offers the possibility for growth

It’s not too difficult for most people to come up with a list of personal regrets in their life.

Life is filled with options and choices.

No one gets it right every time.

Hindsight often reveals a clearer picture of how different decisions made in the past may have resulted in more pleasing outcomes in the present. It’s always easier to see the error of your ways after the fact.

While it would be a mistake to deny regret, it would be a much graver mistake to dwell in the abysmal swamp of paralyzing regret. Regret is a fact of the human condition, but it can be used to your benefit if you can embrace some of the many lessons it may teach you.

If you find yourself regretting something from your past, it’s a clear indication that you believe you actually had a choice to make in the past. You weren’t simply a victim of circumstance.

While your previous decision might not stand up to the light of day now, you should take some level of satisfaction in the knowledge that, when faced with making a choice, you were capable of deciding in one direction or another, regardless of the outcome. Inertia is far more lethal in the long term than a poor decision in the short term.

Regret is a measurable sign of personal growth. Obviously you learned something from your past experience or you wouldn’t regret it now. Use that knowledge and maturity to carve out better decisions in the future.

The road to success is not paved with easy victories. Regret is a strong building block for getting it right next time. It teaches you what not to do.

Regret can teach you empathy. When you understand the gut-wrenching feeling of regret in your stomach for some transgression you committed, you are better able to compassionately deal with others who are fighting the demon of regret in their own life. You are a better human being because of your reactions to your failings than you are because of your reactions to your successes.

Regret is the training ground for future growth. When a course of action has proven itself to be ineffective in achieving your goals, you are better equipped to seek out a more productive route going forward. If you never feel any sense of remorse about an outcome, you will never see any reason to pursue a different, possibly more rewarding, path in the future.

Regret opens your eyes to the world around you. It makes you more in tune socially with the people and circumstances of your world. It opens your eyes to a wider array of options for happiness and success. It teaches you what not to do in order to avoid a negative outcome in the future.

An individual’s first encounters with regret can be painful and sad. If you don’t learn the lessons that regret can teach, you run the very real risk of seeing those feelings evolve into a state of depression.

Fortunately, you can turn regret into a powerful tool for personal growth if you understand and embrace the ways in which regret can open you up to many new options for making future decisions.

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