one can't help to recollect the past and astounded by the trajectory of life that one has gone through in the past decade. From high school days to college life and the career moment.
It is amazing how much awe the Time is able to inspire.
"choices"
The mindset can be:
a) To persevere with steadfast belief, unswerving position to attain life goals albeit being mean and cold;
b) To play by ear, adopting an opportunistic approach to minimize losses (see Sunken Cost Theory) despite taking risk to entertain the unnecessary, sometimes;
c) Resort to blame the past, engrossing in analyzing the defeat, either challenging it again or tumbling into a state of despair,
Of course, life is more sophisticated than a pot of curry. You can put all the ingredients a,b,c or capitalizing only own one item to make your so-called signature dish. The bottom line is: where is your point of reference, and is it you?