Investments, whether financial or personal, hold a uniquely cruel mirror to our sense of self. The investment arena is particularly ruthless, parading an endless mirage of what could have been. Every headline, every success story, every meteoric rise whispers in your ear, You could have had that. You could have been more.
Even when you’ve invested well, the game doesn’t let up. You think, I could have invested earlier, or more, or differently. And if you didn’t invest? You’re left watching others who “made the right choice,” wondering why you didn’t see what they saw, why you didn’t act. Unlike most aspects of life, investments create a constant parallel universe, one that evolves in real time and keeps showing you what you’re “missing.”
But it’s not just money, is it? Beauty has its own cruel version of this mental construct. Every glance in the mirror carries echoes of choices not made: the retinol you didn’t start early enough, the sunscreen you forgot, the self-care you postponed. The future version of you—richer, younger, more beautiful—haunts the present like a ghost.
And here’s the thing: It’s all imaginary. The version of you who bought Bitcoin at $10 or started botox in your twenties never existed. You’re haunted by a phantom of your own making. The more you dwell on it, the more you strengthen the belief that your life as it is—your wealth, your appearance, your choices—isn’t enough.
This is how the trap works. The investment of energy into these alternate realities rewires your brain. It teaches you to see scarcity where there is abundance, lack where there is already plenty. Every “missed opportunity” becomes a mark against your self-worth. You become your harshest critic, carrying the weight of what might have been.
Here’s a deeper truth: even those who “made the right choice” aren’t immune. The ones who got in early or seemed to always know the trends—they, too, are haunted by the endless more. Their parallel universes are just as unreachable as yours. No one escapes the mirage unscathed.
The antidote? Reframing. Instead of seeing what could have been as a failure, see it as a teacher. Every missed investment teaches you about risk. Every beauty regret teaches you about care. These aren’t losses—they’re lessons. Lessons that can only be learned by living, not by endlessly mourning the life you didn’t choose.
The present moment is the only reality. Those alternate versions of your life—the richer, younger, more beautiful you—don’t exist anywhere except in your mind. And if they only exist there, you have the power to release them. You can choose to stop feeding them, to stop letting them rob you of the only wealth that truly matters: the ability to show up fully for your life, as it is, right now.
What would happen if, instead of chasing what could have been, you chose to celebrate what already is? What if you invested, today, in a future you that isn’t haunted by regret but anchored in presence? Wouldn’t that be the most valuable asset of all?
Let’s talk beauty. Every deliberate choice to nurture yourself is an investment in the present you. It’s not about chasing perfection or erasing time; it’s about honoring who you are today and setting the foundation for who you’re becoming. Whether through beauty or finance, the most transformative investments are the ones made with clarity and intention—not for what you could have been, but for what you are right now.