Should Have, Could Have, Would Have… Now What

I catch it sometimes.

Not all the time. Just certain moments.

I’ll come across something… and it brings things up.

Different decisions. Different moments.

Things I went after and didn’t finish.
Things I held back on.
Things I moved on too fast.
Things I’d handle differently now.

“If I had just followed through back then…”

And I already know where that thought is going.

So I answer it.

You didn’t.

That’s it.

No story around it.

Just that.

But the other side doesn’t stay quiet.

“Yeah, but you could have.”

And that part is not wrong.

And the truth is… those thoughts do come up.

Should have done better.
Could have done better.
Would have done better.

They show up.

That’s part of being human.

What matters is not getting stuck there.

I see it.
I acknowledge it.
And I move on.

Because staying there doesn’t lead anywhere.

And I’m not trying to go back and fix something that’s already done.

I did what I could with what I had at the time.

The tools I had.
The mindset I had.
The resources I had.

That’s what I moved with.

And that’s enough to leave it where it is.

I shift my focus.

Not on what didn’t happen…
but on what I can do from here.

Because now I see things for what they are.

Not for what they could have been.