Making Peace with Bad Choices

Do you ever wish you could go back in time and erase a mistake you made? This is completely normal. Making poor choices in life is something we all have to go through. But, this does not mean you need to be plagued by regret, remorse or guilt for the rest of your existence. Making the wrong move in life is a part of growing up and it helps us to learn to take responsibility for our own actions.

The art of forgiveness is an important life lesson which we can apply to ourselves as well as others. It is good to have high expectations of yourself and your abilities, but no one is perfect. We are all human and therefore we are fallible creatures. Not every decision you make will be the right one or the best one, but forgiving yourself for the poor decisions you have made is an essential step towards personal growth and spiritual enlightenment.

Whether you have had a run in with law, stayed too long in an unhealthy relationship or wronged a loved one, bad choices can eat away at you, if you let them. If you dwell on every little thing you wish you had done differently, you may miss out on the good things you could be doing to improve yourself in the present. To fight the depression which comes with the, “I wish I had done this other thing instead” attitude, you have to learn to let go and move on.

Sometimes all that is required of you to move past a bad choice is to apologize to the person or people you feel like you have hurt in some way. Even if they are not prepared to accept your apology right away, it will make you feel as though you tried your best to make amends and to set things right. If this is too hard to do in person, write them an email or letter explaining how sorry you feel and what you learned from the experience.

The wisdom you gain from each bad choice you make is invaluable. Knowing what works out well for you and what does not can help you to become a better person. Plus, this knowledge will help you to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. Seeing your tendencies for temptation or rash moves can allow you to recognize why you made these bad choices in the past in order to avoid making them again in the future.

Making amends with yourself and letting yourself shed the sadness associated with your bad decisions can be the perfect stepping stone to a brighter tomorrow. Remember, making a bad choice in life does not make you a bad person. Everyone does it and the important thing is to be sorry for your actions, learn from what happened and head towards a beautiful future with your newly gained wisdom.