Does this case sound familiar?:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are in your class, sitting with your friends and teacher, having a pretty usual class just like any other. But your teacher all of a sudden pulls out that really hard and unexpected question out of nowhere, which your friends are hopelessly discussing the possible answer about, in panic. Meanwhile, you realize that you somehow know the freaking answer, but still, perhaps due to the reaction of your friends or the objective difficulty level of the question, but mainly the fear of being wrong, you doubt it and are uncertain about your answer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, you are aware of your possible popularity in your class, praises from your teacher whom you always wanted to prove yourself to\u2014because you maybe think you’re viewed as an underdog the whole time but have a great interest in their class\u2014in case you tell your answer and it turns out to be correct.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, you are facing the end bosses of modern psychology, you are combating the \u2018Impostor Syndrome\u2019, \u2018Pluralistic Ignorance\u2019 and \u2018Social Comparison Theory\u2019 all at once, or at least you try to.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not long after, while you’re still trying to survive that war against your mind and to weigh the positive and negative consequences of telling your idea, and trying to make the optimal decision, all of a sudden, one of your classmates raises their hand and shouts out the same exact answer, word for word, as you would have said it, hoping it to be true but not really caring if not, looking into your teacher’s eyes with confidence, and already being admired by your class for their bravery and intelligence because of their innovative and interesting answer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You, however, with a loser mindset, who already acted like a p, envy them and hope their\u2014but also YOUR\u2014answer to be wrong. After a great silence for three to four seconds, your teacher smiles at your classmate and says “Well done XY, it couldn’t be more correct”. All your class is highly impressed, maybe not applauding, but one can sense the true celebration and admiration of everybody, besides you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n You become red like a tomato and your heart beats get faster and faster, your brain betraying you as if it wasn’t holding you back from taking action just now and telling you “Oh you idiot, what have you done? You knew the freaking answer! Why didn’t you just tell it? You could have been the ONE.” You regret the shit out if it, but it sure is too late.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the exaggerated description in this case, the majority of people have surely experienced a similar incident whether in school or somewhere else. Imagine experiencing such a huge regret at 80\u2014at a period of your lifetime where there is no way back\u2014as you review your life, because of opportunities, capabilities, interests, talents and goals you have never taken action upon, which you realistically could have achieved but you rather let them all pass by. How painful would that be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n