Forgive yourself for not knowing everything you know now.
Hindsight is both 20/20 and entirely unforgiving, in the sense that we may lament core decisions that we have made in earlier stages of our lives in which, without all the facts that we have currently, we made a very wrong mistake.
This understanding facilitates our ability to see the errors of our way far more quickly and gives us pause under certain circumstances for regret.
When we make decisions, we are armed with whatever we have to make those decisions at that moment in time.
Those decisions may have ramifications that may potentially last a lifetime and leave us with tremendous emotional disappointment as we reflect on those choices.
If we instead, allow ourselves the opportunity to understand the frame of mind and situation that we were operating under as those determinations were made, we garner the benefit that comes with maturity.
It unquestionably creates a greater understanding, viewing whom we were in the framework of the decision that we opted for, but clarity at a later date does not necessarily alleviate the long-term ramifications resulting from that choice.
When all of this is contemplated, we are wise to elevate ourselves to the maturity of forgiving ourselves for having been fallible. Learn the lessons from that chapter of our lives and then move on.
In the immortal words of George W. Bush, “Fool me once shame on you, fool me – You can’t get fooled again.”
Happy Tuesday!
Brian Weiner 