Rear View Mirror

 I saw a Facebook post from an old friend’s wife today. It said, “Quit looking in the rear view mirror and get on with your future.”

I didn’t think of her as someone who would have many past regrets, because her and her husband are pretty successful people. But maybe she was counseling a friend rather than referring to herself in the post.

I do have a tendency to dwell on past mistakes too much. But I liked the woman’s “rear view mirror” analogy. Sometimes unpleasant memories of past mistakes can help you avoid present ones. You can even build positive memories out of the instances in which you avoided past mistakes moving forward.

The rear view mirror is a useful tool, but looking in too much constitutes using it for something it wasn’t intended for. Her point was well taken.