If it’s gone, let it go.
“Don’t throw good money after bad.” And don’t waste time being sad about the loss that can’t be salvaged.
I had something stolen from me recently. It’s a bad feeling—someone taking something that belongs to you. It’s bad because of the injustice, inconvenience, vulnerability, and cost. The thing was expensive.
Mostly, I’m optimistic and turn negatives into positives, but I had two bad days after the loss. One day of shock. One day of irritation—maybe anger. We did what we could to recover the thing, but our options were few.
When I was at USC in business classes, I remember learning about sunk costs:
“A sunk cost is one that has already been incurred in the past and that cannot be recovered.”
If it can’t be recovered, let it go. Don’t waste any more worry, anger, angst, or time. Let the thing go and move on.
Learn from any oversight, mis-use, mis-communication, or mistake. Then move on. Don’t throw good money—or your precious time and energy—after something that can’t be fixed or recovered. Life is too short to get stuck on a sunk cost.