*Hindsight- The perception of the significance and nature of events (usually bad) after they have occurred.* It has become my daily goal in life to eliminate the negative effects of hindsight. Many of us look at the past and consider what we may have done to change an un-welcome outcome. We ask ourselves too much what we may have done differently yesterday rather than what we could change today.
We give hindsight a lot of unnecessary power in our lives, which I think comes from fearing the future. Of course there are cases where you think you are doing right at the time only to have “hindsight” come back and slap you in the face. I also believe however that a lot of people are affected negatively with this word by not doing what they wished they had at the moment, but feared the outcome, and later regretted not taking action.
Being part of the alpine ski racing game, I am sure many of my fellow athletes know where this train of thought is coming from. If you ever stood at the bottom of a race and wished you had skied that much smarter, or pushed just a little bit harder, or arced just a tiny bit cleaner, but didn’t and now wish you were back up at that start, well then, you know the bitch that is negative hindsight. Here’s a thought, stop thinking about what you should have done and start thinking about what is in your power to change now. At this moment, here and now.
Stop worrying about the future and what it may bring, good or bad. Stop fretting over the past and all the things that could have gone right, but didn’t. Start considering the moment you are in, right now, and own that. Turn your actions exactly where you want them to go and do exactly what you think you should do without fear of anything, or you might regret it tomorrow.
Sure, you’re right. It might be the wrong way, the wrong decision. But at least this time when you look back on it, the stinging slap of hindsight will be a little less severe because instead of failing to act from fear of failure, you acted in a way that you thought had the highest chance of the best outcome. And there is no way you can regret such an action.
Even if you do, that will have been the past and you will have the whole future to make all the right decisions in the world.
-Tucker
Life.Love.Skiing. 