How to stop thinking "I should have..." and "If only..." ?

[DefinitelyGettingOutOfThis]

I know the past is the past and it is completely out of my control. But when I do something recently and I regret it, how do I stop thinking these thoughts? 

 

The thing I am dwelling over currently is; I was in a group photo (professionally taken) with a bunch of people, and now that photo is out in public and posted to a bunch of accounts. I don't like having photos of me posted online because of privacy reasons. In fact, there wasn't a single photo of me online before this one. 

The reason why I am worried about this is because I used to post content online + had a following, and am worried about people doxxing me or trying to reveal my face and link it to my online alias. Doxxing (or doxxing attempts) happens to online influencers a lot more often than you would think.

Now this photo is out there, and there is not much I can do about it. Once something is on the internet, it is immortalized. It is permanently out there. 

 

So I have been having this looping thought pattern of "I should have just walked away instead of giving in to the peer pressure of taking a photo" and I keep trying to control the situation by asking the few people I know in the photo to take the pictures of me down on their account. But that won'd do much because the photo of me is still on the photography company's website.

 

Goes to show that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Had I simply not taken any photos that night I wouldn't be in this situation. 

[Phil]

You could ask the photography company to take the picture down. They most likely will. 

As far as bringing the thoughts about this matter to rest, I’d type arising thoughts, allowing underlying concerns to play out and be seen.