Don't Look Back In Anger

Are you in a situation, in a place or at a stage different from where you imagined you would be at this point in time? Maybe you feel like you just wasted a sizeable amount of time on something that turns out either trivial or irrelevant? Or you think you should have made much more progress in that time? Do you feel upset or worried about this? Well, maybe this experience prepared you for your goal in an unexpected way; but it will only become apparent when viewed from a different perspective. You spent time learning. You invested time working on something. And now you feel frustrated because you feel like you could have, should have spent your time differently, more “wisely”? Or made significantly more progress? Feeling this way is understandable when you view your journey from a task-focused point-of-view. You remember what you wanted to achieve and now you feel like you wasted a lot of time.

Maybe, though, there is something else you can take from this experience? Something learnt? Understanding gained? A realization? You were not idle all this time, and surely the time and effort you invested must mean you have made progress and grown in at least one way. Maybe not primarily in the area you intended to make progress, but progress still. What happens if you try to view your current situation as though you are observing someone else in your situation? You may find that when seeing your experience, your journey, this way, it makes sense that you spent your time the way you did. And while the immediate outcome, the situation you find yourself in right now may not be what you had hoped for, the way you approached the task and the lessons you can learn are quite reasonable for anyone starting out from where you did. And you have gained something, become stronger in one way or another. Maybe, even if seemingly unrelated, there is a way to apply your new strength towards your goal after all? Now is a good time to put that to use and profit from your journey. You've earned it.