penny74

l know it's a waste of time but l keep thinking what could have happened if l could turn back time and do things different.
But l can't and things are as they are.
l am really sorry l did things the way l did.

mikefreak

Me too, Penny. It seems like sometimes that I was hell-bent for leather to ruin my life for 30+ years. But it this area that " accept the things I cannot change" is a good thing for people like you & I to remember. At least we have quit the habits that where killing us, & we are FINALLY going in the right direction in our lives. A LOT of us are dead- WE are the lucky ones. It's impossible not to have any regrets on how we used to live. Don't forget the past, but don't let it eat you alive, either. Peace.:ghug3

aqua4017

Me too. I'm hoping the pain of the things I did in my past will lessen as my sobriety continues. It brings me to tears to think of the things I did and the people I hurt.

least

Me three. I try not to get too caught up in regret cause it will eat me up alive and will ruin the present if I stay stuck in the past. Forgiving ourselves is difficult, but necessary to move on and keep improving.

Dime

I haven't met an alcoholic that didn't have events in the past they did not regret.

Unfortunately we cannot change the past. Realizing that I am sober today and that I am not creating any more horrendous events helps me. Working the steps and having a higher power was a tremendous help for me.

I keep close to my sober friends today. If I can get the focus off of "Me" by helping others in any manner I always feel better.

Please stay in touch

Dee74

I try to remember that everything I've done, good and bad, and every place I've been, happy or sad, has led me here and helped make me who I am today...and I'd rather be that Dee than anyone else

D

murrill

I don't spend very much time regretting the past. As is promised in the BB of AA, I neither regret the past, nor do I wish to close the door on it. It is just a waste of time, and "if only is lonely." Even in sobriety I had disappointments, I made mistakes. I recall interviewing for certain jobs I did not get....and how frustrated I was. Today I am happy with my career, and I realize that I wouldn't be where I am had I gone to work in some of those jobs I thought I wanted.
Letting go of the past has been critical to living sober. Until I could do so I would continue to have the same miserable experiences I had when I drank. I have been sober quite a long time, so perhaps that helps me put things in perspective. But in the early months of sobriety, I was sure that I was "marked" because of all the mistakes I had made. Today those mistakes have lost power over me--and I even smile at what an issue I made of things so trivial.

Spawn

I'm not sorry,.... ( I'm not proud of them either )
I did those things because I was not in my right mind.
I'm actually grateful for what I had to live through because it makes me who I am today.

Being sorry for me means I'm still holding onto the bad feelings related to my past.

Omega10

There are times when I think about the past, and engaged in the "what if I had gone left instead of right?" sort of thinking. But what I realized is that often times we think that life would have been so much better off had we chosen the other direction.

But what if the direction we chose was the best option at the time?

When you look at the past, you do so with the vision from the present. Pardon the cliche, but "Hindsight is 20/20 vision".