How do you recover from regret?

“We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes. You are not your struggles, and you are here NOW, with the power to shape your future.” – Steve Maraboli

Recovering from regret can be very difficult. It affects our emotions and it weighs on our mind. But there are steps you can take to work through regret. Some steps that you can take to help include the following:
1. Accept what happened happened: Recognize that we all make some terrible mistakes, poor decisions, and bad choices that we wish we could undo. You are not alone in battling with this.
2. Do what you can to learn from the experience: Don’t just try to push the experience from your mind. If possible, identify some lessons you can learn. Consider what you think you would now do differently if you found yourself in this situation again.
3. Be deliberate in practicing self-compassion: Be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up. Treat yourself with the same understanding and compassion that you would offer a friend who is struggling with regret.
4. Broaden your perspective: Talk to friends, family members, or a trusted confidant about your painful feelings and distressing thoughts. Sometimes, an outside perspective can provide important insights, and can help you understand things from some new, and different, angles.
5. If it is possible, make amends: If your regret involves damage or harm to others, consider taking steps to make amends. This might mean apologizing, expressing remorse, or making restitution (if this is possible).
6. Direct your focus to the present and the future: While it’s certainly important to learn from the past, continually dwelling on a painful life event can be counterproductive, and even destructive. Try to shift your focus to the present and future. Make some positive changes, set some healthy goals, and work on building a better future for yourself.
7. Work on forgiving yourself: Although it isn’t easy to forgive yourself, being overcome by guilt and engaging in self-blame is unproductive, and it stops us moving on. You could redirect the energy that’s locked up in regret to make positive changes which align with your values.