If you are human, you are bound to make mistakes—there’s no way to avoid them. However, setting free the feelings of those mistakes can be tough, particularly if you are ridden with guilt or regret. It may take some time, but you should try to accept your mistakes & forgive yourself for past errors. In those cases, following some Ways to Overcome Past Mistakes can be helpful.
Now, if you think that maybe these were minor mistakes & failures & have no impact, then you are wrong. Everyone can move us to our core. We don’t have the power to move forward each time. Neither emotionally, spiritually, or mentally.
Ways to Overcome Past Mistakes
1. Understand Your Mistakes
Infrequently, we go through life discontentedly & not really know why. Lament over a past mistake you made could be causing you to feel that way. Being sorry involves feeling terrible about something you wish you had done another way or haven’t done at all.
You may regret things you did or regret things you didn’t. In short, the regret of actions & inactions. It’s vital to understand the source of your regret & to accept your underlying principle for doing or not doing whatever happened at that particular time.
2. Take Your Time To Grieve
Before you can accept that what’s done is done or what’s not done isn’t done, you must grieve the regrets that are making you their prisoner. If you feel you erroneously missed out on a chance for past decisions – like not having a family or not being closer to a family member or friend, then take your time to mourn for that loss.
If it’s not too late to change the feeling of regret by taking some action like reconciling with that family member or friend, then benefit from the opportunity. Sometimes we have the chance to apologize if we regret how we reacted in a situation with another person. If there is anything you can do about it, just do it.
Forgive, make compensation, & express your regret. We may not always have that opportunity, but we must still express these distressing emotions that could be restraining our happiness.
3. Express Your Feelings Without Any Hesitation
One of the best Ways to Overcome Past Mistakes is to express your feelings & don’t harbor any hesitation about them. You can write your feelings out – if they are just for you. Bring this depressing guilt feeling out of your head & onto a piece of paper. Note them in a diary or write them on paper to destroy them in a way that makes you feel more satisfied – like burning them or throwing them into water.
Moreover, while writing, eliminate words like “If only…. then” from your dictionary. Understand that regretting the past is a strong recipe for stress & health problems. Do not make those negative feelings more powerful by your obsession with them.
4. Admit Your Past Mistakes
If you are still wondering How To Overcome Past Mistakes, try to admit them wholeheartedly. Some regrets can be upsetting & cannot be decreased. But there is no “undo” option for past actions or inactions. While it may be very hard, try to find some silver lining in that situation.
Remember the quote from the famous painter Bob Ross? “There are no mistakes – only happy accidents.” We are left with no choice but to admit what has happened & to think of the present options we are left with.
You may not be able to get beyond the consequences of earlier actions, inactions, or decisions; you can stop being fixated on them.
5. Try To Find The Silver-Lining
As stated in the earlier point, while it isn’t easy to find the silver lining at that particular time, there nearly always is one. Through failure, pain, setbacks & making mistakes, we can learn. We grow, mature, & gain more knowledge about life, love, & the people around us.
So, when you make a mistake or fail that probably costs you time, energy, money, or relationships, think about the silver lining. Even if you encountered a situation when someone wronged you & you could never predict it, what did you eventually learn from it?
You might say you benefited or get nothing besides a deeper knowledge of things or a better intuition to recognize major mistakes in the future before they come again. But there must be something more if you look hard enough.
6. Try To Learn From Your Mistakes
Adjust your behavior to avoid similar flawed situations & decisions that made you feel guilty in the past. Be aware of the lesson from the theoretical loss. Think about what you could do another way now & start moving that way. How can you be a better offspring, a better friend, or a better spouse?
Don’t beat yourself up emotionally for past mistakes & consider your current choices. Inviting new life opportunities is never very late – enrolling for a course or learning a new skill, connecting with people in important relationships, or modifying your negative self-image or attitude.
Try to grow past the pain of mistakes & grow past the shame. Keep yourself involved in activities that will bring you happiness, not guilt, for every coming day.
7. Identify Things You Value
One way to overcome guilt for past mistakes is to re-evaluate what you value most in life. Failure & mistakes will help identify then. Use your past mistakes as a jumping board. Which things have you started valuing as a result of your past mistakes? People? Security? Love? Financial stability? Career?
You have to reform your values. Use the pain of past mistakes to help you to establish what’s most vital to you now & in the future. For instance, let’s assume you committed some mistakes in your earlier relationship & your marriage fell apart; you should try to reorder your values to better serve you in the future.
8. Be Determined To Live Life Differently
There’s been a saying that doing the same thing over & over again and expecting different results is the definition of madness. Sometimes, we make enormous mistakes, not once, but over & over again. When we don’t make changes& continue with the same behavior that caused similar mistakes in the past, we are the only one to blame.
In that case, we must adjust our behavior & try to live life differently. If we make an enormous mistake, it’s quite easier to forgive ourselves when we change our behavior & make commitments that we keep to ourselves or even the people in our lives.
Damages Clinging To Past Mistakes Can Do
To be more inspired to follow Ways to Overcome Past Mistakes, we must realize the damages it can do to our lives if we continue to cling to it:
- It will stop us from moving forward & growing.
- It will spoil our motivation.
- It will spoil our courage to try something new.
- It will damage our mental & physical health.
- It will make us resentful, frustrated & easily annoyed.
- It will raise our stress & anxiety levels.
FAQs
Q: What silver lining (mentioned in point 5) can be found in the case of the demise of a loved one?
A: In such unfortunate events, there is hard to find any silver lining. Still, you can identify your true well-wishers who were with you at that difficult moment.
Q: I established a business & due to some past mistakes, it collapsed. What can I make out of it?
A: You may identify some errors (strategically, financially, or in any other field) from that failure & utilize the lesson in your coming ventures.
Q: Is there any podcast about Ways to Overcome Past Mistakes?
A: There are several such podcasts. Podcasts of Rachael Kable, Tony Robbins, Jared McCollum & Glenn Lynch can be particularly helpful.
