Hindsight
BFF #144
The one 'sight' in which I boast 20/20! I have no clue what is coming, no future sight. I see my now as it unfolds with as much surprise as anyone else, but when it comes to seeing how things might have been, well, now there I can see all kinds of different outcomes. Change a decision here or there and boom! Your life goes in a different direction. I'm glad we can't do that. I'm glad that we are not capable of 'do overs' because we might choose to take that road instead of the one we did take. Life happens as it is supposed to happen, I believe. I also believe as we go through life, we make decisions based on where we are at that moment as well as where we have been in the past; sometimes keeping in mind where we want to be in the future. Not always remembering to look ahead is a problem for some.
All of that being said, I imagine most of us have at least one or two things in our past we would do differently. I know I have a few dozen things in my own history that I would not do the same way.
I would not ever repeat some of my high school decisions, given today's wisdom and experience. I would have possibly saved myself and a lot of other people some heartache if, at say 15, I had the mind of a 25 year old me. By then, I had learned how my decisions can affect others. At 15, I was completely about me and mine. I didn't mean to be, I didn't know I was, but now I know and in hindsight, yuck.
As a young parent, I might have done things a little differently. I might have listened to my own parents more and I might have had more patience. I guess I didn't do a horrid job, but there was much room for improvement. As the kids grew I know I got better and more competent. But in hindsight, I know they deserved more than a 19 and then a 20 year old mom could probably have done raising babies.
I know this, too. I am a much better Grandma than I ever was a mom!
Hindsight is helpful to me only as a reminder to think before I act. It is a good thing to review your choices before running hog wild and head long into something without thoroughly examining your options and the possible outcomes. Hindsight is just that, looking behind yourself. I spend very little time doing that, but now and again, one must look back and most importantly, learn. What I know is that I wasn't who I am today but that woman made this one and I am very glad about that.
Jo
Hindsight is a funny thing. I'll bet that 20 years from now, we could look back and say, "You know, if I had it do do over, I might not have wanted to do blah, blah, blah in 2011." ;O)
ReplyDeleteBeth...Yeah, I can use my short term hindsight to know that I blah, blah, blah too much!
ReplyDeleteAs My favorite singer said "I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then" Doil
ReplyDeleteDoil...I know that's true sometimes, but mostly I would only change what I didn't know then into something better!
ReplyDeleteI can see perfectly....behind myself. Don't we all have 20/20 hindsight? ;-)
ReplyDeleteAmen to your comment on being a better Grandmother than a Mother. I'm not Grandmother of the year, but I do much better than I did as a Mom.
ReplyDeleteLife is really a series of ups and downs. We can never be sure if what we are doing is correct or will lead us down some ill begotten path. Hindsight really is 20/20. We all make mistakes the key is in learning from our mistakes and becomimg a better person.
ReplyDeleteDarlene...Yes, we do. It's a good tool for learning.
ReplyDeleteCindy...I know it's a lot more fun! LOL
Meandu...That's the whole purpose of hindsight, isn't it? Just to learn from the things that didn't work out so well.