This is my cynical trick to feeling better about wasted time in my life - it sounds terrible but it works for negative folks like me in a way that feeling grateful for what I do have or focusing on the positive doesn't: I think about and read about people who had way worse lives and experiences than me, people who had their lives cut short at an earlier age. It puts in perspective all the awesome moments I have experienced. I could have died without having the great experiences I did have.

I hate when people try to shame someone for being depressed by saying "others have it worse," but that's not really how my mind processes this technique. I think, " Man, I'm sure glad I got to get that degree or have my son" or whatever it is. My best friend from high school overdosed 12 years ago. Anything I've done in the past 12 years, whether I was wasting time or seizing the day, are experiences he never got to have. For some reason, that makes me feel better. In a rudderless existence, it could have been me.

If that doesn't work, just consider that we are all a bunch of primates on a rock hurtling through space around a star that will burn out eventually. None of what anyone accomplishes will matter on a long enough timeline, so read a book, watch a good movie, go on a hike, whatever...I really don't believe you can have a wasted life as long as you are not spending it actively harming others.