I’m about to turn 18 and I can’t get over how much time I feel like I wasted

I’m about to turn 18 in a few months, and honestly I’ve been struggling a lot with this.

I feel like I wasted so much of my time. I had all these years where I could have tried things, learned things, made memories, worked towards something, but I just didn’t. And now I can’t stop thinking about it.

I genuinely feel like my 16th birthday was yesterday. I still remember that time so clearly, and somehow I’m almost 18 now. It’s really messing with my head.

I keep getting stuck in this loop of thinking about the past and wishing I could go back and do things differently. Sometimes I even catch myself thinking that maybe one day I’ll wake up and somehow be back there, even though I obviously know that’s not going to happen.

The worst part is knowing that if I had the mindset and knowledge I have now back then, I would have done so many things differently. I feel like I had so much time and somehow wasted all of it.

I know 18 is still young, but right now it genuinely doesn’t feel that way to me.

Can anyone who has gone through something similar please tell me how you got out of this mindset? How do you accept that you can’t change the past and actually start living your life instead of constantly wishing you could go back?

I’m genuinely having a hard time with this right now and would really appreciate some advice.