It is 20/20, you know.

Hindsight.

I grew up hearing the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" and when I was very young, I really had no idea what that meant. Now that I am easing up on another birthday tomorrow and preparing to enter yet another new phase of my life (retirement) in a few short weeks, I think I can easily reflect on it and explain.

Some of the actions that people take in their youth are based in very fast-paced decision making. 

"I need to take action, I'll think about the real consequences later on." 

I will just deal with it later is a popular refrain when the main person you are thinking about is yourself. But what if you realized suddenly that your decisions were having an unexpectedly profound effect on your friends, co-workers, partner, children? Would that change how long you might think about your decisions? You know you are an adult when you are actually looking FORWARD to gaining hindsight wisdom.

I think that I actually had to make a few bad decisions that hurt other people before I really totally understood hindsight. It can cause people real pain when you make a bad choice, and when that happens, if you are a good person at heart, you often feel instantly regretful. 

I have made so many decisions that I believed were correct at the time, and later - with hindsight - I understand that if I had waited a bit and thought a bit harder, I might have made a better choice.

Real talk: Slow down. Think. Then decide. Hindsight is a great teacher, but wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to use it so often to show us what we should have done in the first place.

“After the ship has sunk, everyone knows how she might have been saved.” — Proverb