Anticipatory Regret

Anticipatory regret is regret in advance. You haven't decided yet, and you're already grieving the path you won't take. Every choice feels like a small bereavement before it's a choice. The problem with anticipatory regret is not the feeling itself — it is that the feeling tries to vote in the decision. It often votes against deciding at all. Naming it is a way of separating the regret from the choosing, so the choosing can happen on its own terms.