How do I stop regretting a chance I turned down years ago?

You keep replaying a door you chose not to walk through. But you are only replaying one version of it, the bright one where everything worked out. You have no idea if that road was better. You are grieving a life you never actually saw. You made that choice with what you knew and felt at the time. A different you, in a different moment, said no for reasons that were real then. Judging that past self with everything you know now is not fair to them. They did their best with what they had. The regret hurts most because it sneaks into new choices and makes you afraid to commit. So name it when it shows up: this is the old no talking. Then decide based on what is in front of you now. You cannot get that year back. You can stop letting it vote on every day that is left.