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| Ways to handle regret |
I know regret is a useless emotion. In my rational thoughts I know that overthinking and regretting past decisions is useless and not worth my time.
I keep telling myself to get over it and I push those thoughts away, but its clearly not helping.
Instead, its like a cinema in my head that replays all the moments where I wish I had decided otherwise in the past.
I'm not depressed or anything but its becoming more and more annoying and its been like this for the past 3 months or so but its gradually getting worse.
How can I help myself and get over it without having to go see a therapist?
What has helped you in the past, if you were ever in a situation like this?
Answer
Focus on something else. I've found that's pretty much the only thing that helps with obsessive thoughts of any kind. You can't not think about something at will but you can crowd it out, so to speak.It's bs that mental multitasking is impossible, or at least that theory doesn't apply universally, but the number of things you can focus on at once isn't unlimited either. The specifics depend on your interests, skills, etc. Cook a complex dish while listening to an audiobook that requires attention in your third language, something like that.
Also, get rid of everything that triggers unwanted associations, to the extent possible. And read shallow, fast-paced commercial fiction before bed: it will improve your chances of having lighthearted dreams instead of being tortured in your sleep, too.