Regret is a sign of progress. If you look back at your past self and see a fool, congratulations: you’ve grown.
@g_s_bhogal, X.com
Om forfatteren
Gurwinder Bhogal is a popular writer and thinker who shares his ideas through X.com (formerly Twitter) under the handle @g_s_bhogal. His sharp observations about human psychology, cognitive biases, and personal growth have built a strong following. Bhogal often writes about mental models, decision-making, and how people can improve their thinking.
The meaning of the quote
This quote flips our usual view of regret upside down. Most people see regret as purely negative—a painful emotion to avoid. But this quote suggests regret actually signals something positive: growth.
When we look back at past choices with regret, it means our standards have risen. We now know better. The discomfort of seeing our past foolishness proves we’ve learned something valuable since then.
Think about your teenage years. Many of us cringe remembering things we said or did. That cringing happens because we’ve matured. If you looked back and felt everything you did was perfect, that would suggest you haven’t grown at all.
This perspective helps us handle regret more productively. Instead of getting stuck in shame spirals, we can view our past mistakes as necessary steps toward becoming wiser. The point isn’t to eliminate all regrets but to keep generating new ones as we continue improving.
For example, a business owner might regret how they handled customer complaints five years ago. Rather than dwelling on this, they can recognize that feeling bad about past behavior shows their customer service standards have improved.
This applies to relationships too. You might regret how you behaved in past relationships, but that awareness means you now understand what healthy relationships require. Without making those mistakes, you wouldn’t have gained this knowledge.
Growth happens through trying things, making mistakes, and learning from them. The quote reminds us that perfection isn’t the goal—progress is. And regret, rather than something to run from, serves as proof of that progress.
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