Everyone has regrets, no matter what they say. We all have at least one thing we regret doing – maybe it’s something you said, or maybe it’s even something you didn’t say. Maybe it’s one of those “holy I can’t believe I was like that” kind of regrets. Maybe it’s a big regret, maybe it’s a lot of little ones. Regardless of the type of regret you have, what’s important is that you don’t take them to heart. It’s crucial that you don’t let your decisions of the past dictate your future – and here’s a few reasons why.

There isn’t anything more that you can do.

That all there is to it. There really isn’t anything more you can do to stop regretting something. No matter how much you think about it, there isn’t anything you can do to change what happened. Thinking about it only makes it worse, since the only thing you can do about regrets is to think about them. All you can do is focus on what will happen, not what has happened. Focus your attentions on moving forward, making yourself a better person, and making sure whatever you did that was so bad never happens again. That way, you can try and save yourself some regret in the future. Hindsight is always 20/20, and looking back you might see things you could have done, but there isn’t anything more you can do now.

You lose sight of what’s ahead of you

While you’re too busy fretting over what has already happened, life is moving forward without you. If you spend too much time and energy regretting the past, you won’t be ready for when things happen to you in the future. If you lose sight of the future like this, you might miss out on a whole lot of significant opportunities in your life. If you’re too focused on regrets, you won’t be prepared to jump on the opportunities and to take full advantage of them.

It changes your personal view

Regretting something and second-guessing things you did opens the door to a lot of self-criticism. Thinking thoughts like “I’m such an idiot for doing that,” are not helpful to who you are now. In fact, the only thing that these thoughts do is drag you down. Get rid of that sort of negativity by focus on the things you did right. Think about times you really nailed something, got it spot on. Don’t worry and belittle yourself by thinking about your flaws, think about your triumphs instead.

Regret is a big part of everyone’s lives, and is one of the biggest things that people deal with. Some people deal with it poorly and live their life in the past, while others move forward and allow their regrets to open doors to self-betterment. Who you are as a person is greatly defined by how you deal with regrets, so ask yourself if you want to live in the past, or move only forward.