Don’t underestimate the power of reflection. The 2015 version of you probably went through some shit to help make you the person you are today.
Embrace that, don’t suppress it.
Be okay with asking “Why?” and sitting with that answer for a bit.
Why was I upset?
Why did that bother me?
Why did I get angry?
Why was I short-sighted?
Why didn’t I listen?
Why did I take the shortcut?
Whatever the question is we have to be okay with challenging ourselves to have an honest and thoughtful answer.
We have to be okay with getting uncomfortable as we reflect back on a bad time or experience. As the saying goes, “History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme.”
It may be better to be uncomfortable now, by ourselves, as we learn and grow versus repeating a similar pattern in real-time.
We have to know it will only help us going forward.