It was as it was and as it was, it was good. However, this realization often takes quite a while to sink in. While we know very well that dwelling on the past is useless and that we can't change it anyway, many things from our younger years continue to gnaw at us. We then inwardly chastise ourselves for unwise decisions and our behavior back then. But we don't do ourselves much good by doing so.

On the contrary. Regret is a strong emotion that triggers just such reactions in us. Like constant small waves, it works in us and thus harms body, mind and soul sooner or later. If you were not always the independent and cautious person you are today, congratulations. You have obviously evolved and successfully outgrown your childhood.

For this realization alone, we should be grateful to the mistakes of our past. In this article, we'll show you why it's a waste of energy to mourn the mistakes we made when we were young.

1. Bad decisions, better management of emotions

If there is one thing we can learn from a crash landing, it is to keep our emotions in check. We can't go around yelling and screaming like Rumplestiltskin every time one of our plans doesn't work out. This is also one of the reasons why it is so important for children not to have every obstacle removed from their path by mom and dad.

Challenges strengthen our emotional intelligence and sometimes literally force us to control ourselves, even when we don't feel like it at all. As the years go by, all the setbacks that we've had make it so easy to stop getting upset or bursting into tears when we fail at something. If a decision was wrong... so what? Next time it will be better, because it will be different.

If you want to tear your hair out every time you fail to win, you won't be able to spend a pleasant minute with yourself and the world. Anger management is one of the many free benefits that error brings us.

2. We can only learn forgiveness

The hardest thing when we look back on mistakes in our past is the ability to forgive ourselves for them. Such memories are like an eternal echo that simply won't leave us alone and fall silent. From today's perspective, this stern look at our misbehavior may even be justified.

Today, of course, we would know better and act differently. But what was it really like back then? Did we already have the foresight that we have today? Did we really know all the facts? Was there even a choice that would have made us lean in a different direction? Have mercy on your younger self.

There are good reasons why it is called the wisdom of age and the delusion of youth and not the other way around. We must live life forward, even if we can only understand it backward, according to Søren Kierkegaard.

Forgiveness is like love, it must begin within us, so that we can extend it to others. If we do not love ourselves, we cannot love others. If we do not forgive our younger self, how can we forgive the rest of the world?

3. Mistakes shape our character

Many sayings revolve around missteps once committed and the morals and lessons learned. Much of it revolves around trusting the wrong people and overlooking warning signs or ignoring well-intentioned advice. All of these things we have to learn and as we all know humans always learn the most important lessons the hardest way.

Those who have once trusted the wrong people or succumbed to a delusion will be wary of committing that faux pas a second time. We are then more suspicious, but also more vigilant and a touch less naive. Mistakes take away our innocence in a certain sense. We no longer see the world as pink cotton candy but learn about its bitter aftertaste.

Such experiences do something to us. Afterwards, we will never be the same as before, and this is where the chisel that shapes our character sits.

4. We know what we don't want anymore

You don't necessarily have to try everything in life once. The unhealthy, life-threatening and illegal things you can safely just leave out without having missed much. But for the rest: clear the way and go for the bacon. Life is like an endless supply of possibilities, a land of milk and honey for all those who dare to do something and would like to expand their horizons.

Every unfavorable decision and every mistake ultimately narrows down what constitutes our preferences and tastes. Thus, step by step, breakdown by breakdown and shipwreck by shipwreck, we eliminate all those things that are not good for us and that we do not like. Knowing what we don't want or no longer want is a decisive step towards freedom and independence.

Knowledge is always power. The more of it we can accumulate, the better. No one needs to know how we get there, and it probably won't become an arrow in the textbook of life any time soon. A pity, actually. Because others could learn a lot from our mistakes.

5. Regret harms our psyche

As healthy as forgiveness is for us, its evil twin, regret, is bad for us. The two often go hand in hand through life and torment us humans to the bone. While forgiveness gives us peace of mind, regret does the exact opposite. It keeps us awake at night, makes us feel no joy, and the guilty conscience it permanently evokes in us is omnipresent.

Regret puts us in the pillory, stones and scourges us, and doesn't let us go anytime soon. It builds a prison where neither sunlight nor hope can be found. Those who want to do themselves the greatest possible harm put on the penitent's garment and load the misery of the world on their shoulders like a wooden cross weighing tons.

Regret is a senseless emotion because it serves no purpose. It draws its power and its strength from the eternal question of "what if" and a perpetual merry-go-round of "should have, would have, could have.

Today's Conclusion: A life without mistakes has no value

Or as Nelson Mandela once put it, "I never lose. I either win or I learn". We can take that much with us from a life in which not every decision was right and not every path was purposeful. There is not a single person in the world who always does everything right. Falling into the trap of mistakes is simply part of growth and our further development.

The situation only becomes truly alarming when we constantly repeat the same mistakes. This is where not only the curse of unteachability lurks, but also, loosely based on Albert Einstein, a touch of insanity. As is well known, one of his definitions is: Always doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

So, learn from your mistakes and be grateful to yourself for them. Without them, you wouldn't be the person you are today. That's it for today. Thanks very much and see you soon.

This Is Why You Should Never Regret Making These Mistakes in Life!