I used to get really stressed out replaying the past like, “If only I didn’t do this… if only I did that.” In this video I break down the idea that you don’t know what you’re going to think until you think it — and if the “right” move didn’t occur to you in that moment, there was literally no way you could’ve chosen it. That sounds heavy, but it’s been a weird source of psychological relief for me. I talk about how regret is basically the illusion that you could’ve done it differently, and how accepting cause-and-effect (without needing to be the “core author” of everything) can loosen those obsessive loops. I also get into how this is asymmetrical: your choices absolutely shape the future, but once a choice is made, there was no alternate timeline you were secretly capable of picking in that exact moment. A lot of suffering comes from protecting this egocentric feeling that “I’m in the center of everything,” when in reality thoughts and ideas just appear out of subconscious processes. Then I talk with my friend Chris about OCD, intrusive thoughts, and how too much freedom during the pandemic can turn into chaos. We get real about vivid imagination, creativity, neurotic negative thinking, and the moment you finally get tired of replaying it and decide to take control again — not by rewriting the past, but by letting it be what it is and learning from it.