Hindsight

Hindsight is a punishment of regret, of inaction, of being wrong. It plagues nearly everyone when a decision is made and time tells that a different action would have been better. The reality of hindsight is we should not get lost in it. We should not get lost in hindsight because, at the time of our action, we believed we were making the right choice given the knowledge, effort, or awareness available to us. Looking back on the action we made with mixed feelings because of receiving new information, or a different outcome than expected, is not going to change anything except our mood in the present. Instead of fixating on what we could have done differently provided we could see the future, we must instead turn to learning about our choices and planning so the same scenario does not happen again.

Hindsight keeps us up at night. I am a victim of this.

Relationships, investments, and sports are where hindsight seems to run most rampant. They broadly seem to be genres in life where direct action (or inaction) have the most stark results. Everyone has a friend that says “Oh if I just did ___ my life would be different.” “Hindsight is 2020” is a famous phrase for a reason. It is true! Everyone has events that when they look back on, would change. That is part of life. If we could go back in time, I am sure many of us would. We must instead choose to treat hindsight like feedback. When this perspective flips we are more effectively able to map out our lives so we do not make the same mistakes.

Fixating on hindsight also makes us unappreciative of life’s current or future opportunities. If we are so upset about a missed investment, we may miss the next one too! If we are so embarrassed by how we acted in front of our crush, we could miss the chance to act differently the next time we cross their path. Living in hindsight is a choice to be unhappy. Generally speaking, hindsight is a feeling of what we would do to change our life for the better. It is a feeling of “what if” and “I wish.” These are imaginary scenarios and do nothing for helping us in the now or the future. We must treat hindsight for what it is, the past, and learn and grow from it.