The Trap of Hindsight

thoughts Jul 20, 2022

"You judge past-you thru the lens of current-you’s understanding and information."

The sickly sweet trap of hindsight is that you always could have done more. Something different. Better. More of. Less of. But reality is you couldn’t have; not in the moment. You didn’t see it. You didn’t know it. If you had, you would have chosen differently.

I'm not saying hindsight is all bad; quite the opposite. It can be very informative and helps us to be better in the future. It's a way of learning and growing. It should be used in that manner though. The application of it as a self-flagelation device is a problem. Give the past-you a break and a little grace and certainly don't start comparing...that's a whole other trap.

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