Fear of future regret

Robert: Can anyone make out the writing on the wall?
Helen: Hang on … I can decipher “second thoughts.” Usually – unless it’s some punk band – it means that we don’t find a spontaneous decision so convincing anymore. Basically, having doubts after the fact.
Fred: Such omen over and above ol’ ma there induced some thoughts in the young mother.
Kate: Wait, do you mean she already feels sorry about being a mother? I’ve read that happens to more and more women nowadays.
Sophie: I wouldn’t go that far, but she definitely looks pensive. Maybe she’s afraid that one day she’ll mourn lost opportunities, like she imagines the old woman is doing.
Fred: I think we all know that feeling: after making a big decision some doubts remain because the rejected alternatives keep haunting you.
Conrad: However, it gets critical when people let themselves be pressured into actions merely because they’re afraid they will regret not doing them. Paradoxically, those are the very choices they will regret in the end. It stands to reason when there is such weak motivation to begin with. That’s usually the case with the disappointed mothers Kate mentioned.
Sophie: Still, it is expedient to do some emotional guesswork before any big choice to see how our future self might feel about it. That has saved me from a few dumb moves, which would have felt awful in hindsight.
Helen: You have always been a smart girl, Sophie. The rest of us normies are lucky if we make it through life without bouts of regret.