Hindsight is 20/20
Written by Alaina Smith, MA, LPC, CAADC
The year is now 2020 and there are so many clever sayings floating around as a play on words. We all know the phrases “hindsight is 20/20” or “20/20 vision”. These are aspects of wisdom and health, both physical and mental. I think there is profound truth to be found in this as we prepare to engage in this new year. Many people like to make New Year’s resolutions. The common joke is those will be broken by the end of the first month. If not even sooner, for some of us. So how do we set a vision and intention for the year we can keep? I think it all comes back to that age old saying that “hindsight is 20/20”. We need to look to the past and learn from that to grow in the future.
How do I set goals?
Where many of us go wrong in setting a resolution is that we set a very large, vague goal. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big, but it is also important to know that we are not dreaming so big that we set ourselves up for disappointment and failure. To set a goal well, I have found the following acronym helpful: S.M.A.R.T. That stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. In doing so we create a much more precise, clear vision for what we are trying to accomplish and this makes it easier to do just that.
In addition, we need to identify steps to get us to the goal. This is how we use the wisdom of hindsight to guide us by knowing what does and does not work for us. In time you obtain a snowball effect where several small steps towards small goals build to bigger steps towards bigger goals. Momentum builds confidence and confidence increases our changes of success.
Compassionate self-talk is vital
Another critical aspect of this is the concept of self-talk. We all have an inner dialogue going on, some of use more aware of it than others, but it’s definitely present. How we talk to ourselves about perceived failures and successes makes a huge difference to our overall outlook and ability to achieve anything. Healthy perspective means using hindsight to see areas where we did not do as well as we hoped. Then instead of judging ourselves and beating ourselves up for it, we re-frame that inner dialogue. Choose to appreciate what we learned in the process and then seek to do better next time. The importance is to seek to understand instead of jumping to judgement.
Seeing with 20/20 vision in the present
Hindsight being 20/20 definitely benefits us if we choose to seek wisdom and learn from not just our past but others as well. But how then do we focus this to present and future to help us see with 20/20 vision now? In addition to proper goal setting and compassionate self-talk, we also need help from others. It’s all about setting up a system of support that can help act as our lens for reality.
If you have visual impairment, you would wear glasses or have some form of assistance with maneuvering your environment like a seeing eye dog. We can use the same concept for mental health as well. When we know we have some kind of blinders on and we need help seeing reality, it means having healthy resources to go to and gaining assistance with seeing clearly. We do this through Scripture, interacting in a community of believers, and having healthy family and friends who are not afraid to speak the truth in love.
Above all, seek wisdom
Proverbs 3:13-14 states “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.”. My prayer for you is that you can enter this new year with healthy intention and resolutions. That you can truly use that view of the past to shape your path for the future. Choose to seek wisdom. Allow the Lord to make clear the vision for this year and you will not be disappointed.
Alaina Smith, MA, LPC, CAADC is one of the bilingual therapists at CPC, able to provide services in Spanish. She specializes in substance abuse, alcohol/drug addiction, gambling addiction and sex addiction. Her heart is in helping others to find their voice and she seeks to see her clients the way that God sees them, as well as to help them along the journey to learning to love themselves and see themselves through God’s eyes. When Alaina is not in the office you can find her spending time with family and enjoying the various festivals and events that Grand Rapids offers throughout the year. Learn more.