Perspective

'Perspective is only valuable once gained'

I thought this would be an appropriate post for where I am in life right now. I find myself, like everyone else constantly saying 'I wish I knew back then, I would have done x y z differently.' My question to you then is - why? 
Why are we so afraid to learn the lesson that can be solely gained through that experience? Why do we yearn for a divine degree of perspective and understanding to shine on us and show us the way before we've even gone through it? Each time I look back on a situation it tells me a little more about myself, how I dealt with it obviously made sense in the moment- I should just trust in my previous judgement and be safe in the knowledge that I did the best I could. Yet, I'm unable to do so. Instead I'm forever feeling foolish for not seeing what seems so clear to me now. Constantly fighting with the then and the now then leads to internal conflict and resentment. 'Why didn't I see that?'

Hindsight, for this reason can be a very dangerous tool, stripping us of our self belief.
If I'm constantly telling myself that I could have done better, spoken better, acted better what does that say about my confidence to handle situations in the moment? Surely the point of life is to have experiences- both good and bad. It's both negative and unproductive to wish you didn't go out with that guy who turned out to be a jerk, or regret offensive words said in the moment. Living a life intertwined with the heavy burden of regret is unnecessarily self- sacrificial. We need to remind ourselves that we went out with the jerk in order to differentiate him from a good guy next time round, we said those offensive things because sometimes the truth is hard to swallow. You can't change the past, you can only look forward to creating a bright future. Don't beat yourself up about what you could or have done, you are human and beautifully, wonderfully flawed. It's okay. Just know that perspective exists so we can learn the lesson and do better next time round.

Perspective allows us to grow as individuals and move forward with clarity and decisiveness. Trust in your self.

BE