For the most part, our old-selves weren't thinking 'am I going to regret this', but more so if the decision/s 'gonna help me big time' or 'I have no choice'.
Of course you can't brainwash yourself into thinking it was all perfect.
Be brutally honest with yourself.
Whenever I need to reflect on something, atm I would consider the following:
- Was I a different or whole different person? If so, how different exactly?
- Do I still think it's that way?
- Do my needs at this moment of time, correspond to the needs I had during those times?
If they don't align with your current self, then you probs shouldn't worry about them.
So, how do you refrain yourself from making such decisions...
during the dreaded decision-making phase?
Bluffing it out and thinking I will. Won't help a bit.
Instead, think of it this way: some if not most of our decisions (in some shape or form) reflects the decisions we made in the past. Only in a different context or scenario.
Whenever possible, try to compare and contrast the decision you're about to make to the decision you made in the past (just like how you'd do text comparisons in high school English
)
Find the underlying
theme trend and steer it to what you reckon is the best path to take.
At least by doing this, you know you've made the best decision possible (relevant to how apt you were at the time), and hence less of a regret.
Fyi: this can vary b/w person to person. To apply anyone's subjective experiences to your own. Is something that should be avoided imo (period).