Regrets are such a pain, eh? Dealing with them, for me, has always been like taking out the trash. You don't want to handle the garbage, but it only gets worse if we let it sit around and rot.
I seperate what is happening internally for me in the present, from what has already happened in the past. We can't change the past, but we can have better todays, and so better tomorrows as well.
My regrets can keep me from letting go of the past, and so this can then create resentments against myself, people, places, and things.
I like to turn regrets around. Sometimes its easy to understand my past actions simply because of what else was going on at the time, and we all have our limits, and when we for whatever reasons surpass ourselves, we often earn regrets as a reward for our failures.
Alcoholism is such an overwhelming experience, and we all have failed in some measure against our alcoholic experiences. Sobriety is clearly the best answer to alcoholism, and the cleanup required to sustain our sobriety then becomes the proper journey going forward.
I turn my regrets around with forgiveness for myself, for being what I was, and for knowing that my past active alcoholism is not the measure of my best efforts to get on with my life. My sobriety is the best yardstick to measure both my past failures, and regrets, and my present, and future, successes.