One thing that keeps me up at night is missed opportunities. I’ve spent countless hours journaling, noting down my missed opportunities and what I should’ve done instead to avoid them. While acknowledging them has made me self-aware, it’s a temporary relief at best. I say this because if humans continue to err, then I am a superhuman who errs a bit too much. Just when I think I’m making some headway toward making peace with these missed opportunities, I do something that causes me to miss another one, and it takes me down a rabbit hole.

But really—how does one make peace with the what-ifs? The imaginary constructions of situations where everything worked out perfectly? The belief that an opportunity was the shot to the next big thing, creating a domino effect that would lead to the best possible outcome?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll try to appease yourself with theories of fate and the universe—how those things were never meant to be ours. But realistically, we’re just avoiding one bitter realisation: we make poor life choices.

Poor life choices cause missed opportunities, and we make poor life choices for several reasons. After hours of journaling and beating myself down, I analysed several reasons that cause one to make ill-informed choices and miss opportunities:

* Lack of foresight — not being able to see the long-term effects or benefits of a choice.

* Lack of perceptive thinking — not being able to gauge how beneficial (or not) an opportunity could be.

* Prioritising the wrong things — choosing short-term gratification and letting banal distractions get in the way.

* Fear — not acting on a choice rather than overcoming the fear of doing it.

* Boredom — simply being too lazy to take action.

* Assumptions — assuming the pros and cons as though you know everything, when your analysis is gravely flawed because it stems from preconceived notions, haste, and not careful consideration.

* Moods — letting life and emotions interfere with objectively doing the work and staying disciplined.

* Overthinking — thinking your way out of taking action.

* Pessimism — assuming an opportunity will lead to nothing, causing inaction.

However, becoming aware of our flaws is just the first step. We do this exercise so we can take action in the right direction. After hours of journaling (again), I identified ways in which I’m actively trying to make better choices—sometimes in vain:

* Discipline — following through on a plan irrespective of its perceived benefits.

* Action — thinking less and doing more.

* Objectivity — fairly assessing choices we initially deem less beneficial.

* Prioritising the right things — choosing what matters, even when emotions, boredom, or temporary distractions pull us off course.

* Valuing opportunities — understanding that they don’t come often and seizing them when they do.

* Optimism — doing justice to every opportunity by giving our best.

* Making peace — forgiving ourselves and accepting reality.

These are my few cents on missed opportunities and poor life choices. Forgive yourself for the mistakes, make peace with reality, accept it, and move on. But promise to do better—and try to make better life choices.