As sour as it feels, financial regret can be a good thing. It means that you care about the consequences of your actions. Harboring financial guilt long-term, however, can be crippling.
Perhaps you fell for a hyped-up meme stock, racked up steep credit card debt, drained your emergency fund for an unnecessary reason, or took out a personal loan that you couldn’t repay. These mistakes in hindsight are painful and palpable in many ways.
What matters is not what you did, but what you do next.
In order to not negatively impact your present and future, letting go of financial regret is key. Having a dark cloud of financial guilt above your head will not lead to a better quality of life. Owning your past and taking action to not repeat the same past mistakes is critical to reclaim your life.
Think of it this way. You would be in even more of a pickle if you had ZERO remorse for past financial mistakes. Here’s the framework from which you can use to rid yourself of financial regret.
Five Steps To Take First
- Acknowledge your emotions.
- Remember that you are not alone and most people can relate.
- Take accountability.
- Congratulate yourself for being mature enough to feel guilt for past money mistakes.
- Offer forgiveness to yourself.
Reflection + Introspection + Correction
Reflect by identifying the money mistakes that caused your financial regret in the first place. Ask yourself what you could have (and should have) done differently. What led you to make those financial decisions? Did these financial mistakes seem like a good idea in the moment? If so, why?
Practice introspection. Think about what has and hasn’t worked for you. Think about why you did what you did in the past to better understand your makeup. To the best of your knowledge, aim to assess your psychological processes.
The correction stage of this step is about getting your ducks in a row. If you don’t yet have one, create an actionable budget. It doesn’t have to be overly restrictive or require penny-pinching. The best type of budget is one that you will actually use.
Make sure you set clearly defined goals as well. Remember, money amendments shouldn’t feel burdensome or boring. Instead, they should feel rewarding.
Reframe Your Mindset (To A Positive One)
Don’t underestimate the impact of your mindset. Repeatedly reliving your past financial mistakes is not beneficial to your mindset.
Make a list of the good decisions you have made and pat yourself on the back (literally). Choose to consciously see the positive in your decisions.
Give yourself credit for getting in the driver’s seat of your financial life and reclaiming your relationship with money. Practice positivity, to the point that it becomes second nature, so that it seeps into all aspects of your life.
Talk To A Trusted Contact
Sharing your feelings with someone you trust can take a load off your mind. Simply talking through the low points in your life can help lift the weight of the guilt.
Communicating with others can also be an opportunity to swap suggestions and exchange experiences in regards to healthy financial tips. By doing so, you’re also creating accountability to commit to your financial wellness journey.
Know What You Can Control
It’s important to not dismiss your emotions. Feeling down is understandable but it’s important to not harp on past, poor financial mistakes permanently.
Your attitude is one thing that is, in fact, within your control. Your feelings are fleeting, and they are subject to change. While you cannot change the past, you are in control of your attitude and what you do in the present. Taking account of what you can control can also help you feel empowered.
Be Forward-Focused
If you are constantly carrying the weight of your financial regret, you will not be able to move forward. Though the side effects of financial mistakes can have rippling mistakes for years to come, the worst thing you can do is nothing. Mindlessly recreating the same money mistakes over and over will only perpetuate financial hardships and vulnerabilities.
Since there’s no quick and easy way to undo your past mistakes, the strongest response you can have now is making better decisions to improve your financial wellness going forward.
Take time to imagine the life you want for your future self and consider every action your present self makes with your future self’s best interest in mind. You can aim to manifest the life you want, but you must also take action.
Manifesting without action is simply wishing.
The Takeaway
You can’t go back in time and change your past mistakes, but you can learn from them and make better decisions going forward. Reflect, correct, and make positive (and permanent) changes in your financial behaviors as a gift to your future self.
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