Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.

You can move forward while facing backwards, and much of life is arranged that way. What you learned, what went wrong and who taught you all stay in view, while the direction of travel is somewhere you cannot see. Understanding tends to arrive afterwards, and the rowing has to happen anyway.

Use the past as the only chart available, without expecting it to show the water ahead. Look back deliberately now and then, for the pattern rather than the regret. Then get on with the stroke you are actually taking.