How to Take First Step in Low Point? Fu Hexagram First Yang Line: "不远复，无祇悔" (Return Before Going Far, No Regret) — The Sooner You Turn Back, the Smaller the Cost

Who hasn’t taken a wrong turn in life?

Who hasn’t made bad choices, picked the wrong direction, ended up in the wrong line of work, or loved the wrong person?

What makes the difference?

The difference is how far you go before you turn back.

Some people adjust course the moment they sense something’s off. The damage is minimal, and they get back on track quickly.

Others know full well they’re on the wrong path but stubbornly push on. By the time they turn back after traveling thousands of miles, the cost is enormous.

This is exactly what the First Line of the Return Hexagram talks about.

The Line Text says: "不远复，无祇悔，元吉。" (Returning before going far, no great remorse, supreme good fortune.)

You come back before you’ve gone too far, so there’s no real cause for regret—it’s supremely auspicious.

This is the first line of the Return Hexagram, and the first step of a turnaround.

What Does "Returning Before Going Far" Mean?

"Return" means coming back, turning around, reverting to the right path.

Returning before going far—you haven’t traveled much distance before you turn back.

It sounds simple, but it’s hard to do.

Why is it hard?

Because no one likes to admit they’re wrong.

Especially when you’ve just set out, you tell yourself, "I chose this path, so I’ll see it through even if I have to crawl."

After a while, you realize something’s off. You have doubts in your heart, but you don’t say a word.

You think, Let’s keep going a bit more—maybe things will get better ahead?

You go a little further, and it gets even worse. You start to panic, but you can’t bear to give up—you’ve come so far already, if you turn back now, won’t all that effort have been for nothing?

So you keep going.

The farther you go, the harder it is to turn back; the harder it is to turn back, the more wrong things get.

In the end, you can’t even find your way back anymore.

This is the script of so many people’s lives.

What starts as a small mistake turns into a huge one, all because you refused to turn back.

What starts as a slight detour ends with you completely lost, all because you stubbornly pushed on.

That’s why the First Line says "returning before going far"—

Coming back before you’ve traveled too far is the smartest thing you can do.

The earlier you turn back, the smaller the cost.

Why "No Great Remorse"?

The character "qi" here roughly means "great".

No great remorse—there’s no deep, lasting regret.

Why no great remorse? Because you didn’t go far, the loss is small, and it’s still not too late to turn back.

You pick the wrong job, realize it’s a bad fit after two months, and quit. All you lose is two months of time—it’s nothing, hardly a cause for major regret.

You date the wrong person, realize you’re not a match after six months, and break up. All you lose is half a year of feelings—you’ll grieve for a while, but it won’t haunt you for life.

But what if you only realize the job is wrong after ten years? Or that you married the wrong person after having kids?

Then the loss is devastating.

Your youth is gone, your opportunities are gone, your power to choose is gone.

What’s the point of saying "If only I’d known back then…" at that point?

That’s why Wen Laoshi often says:

"Small mistakes aren’t scary. What’s scary is refusing to fix them. Let a small mistake fester into a big one, and it’ll be too late for regrets."

It’s so true.

No one goes through life without making mistakes.

Making mistakes isn’t the problem. The problem is whether you’re willing to turn back in time.

People who are willing to turn back can turn a mistake into something good—you learn a lesson from every setback, and you won’t make the same mistake again.

People who refuse to turn back can let a small mistake snowball into a disaster—one wrong step leads to another, until the whole game is lost.

Who Is Most Likely to "Return Too Late"?

What does "returning too late" mean? It means turning back only after you’ve gone a very long way, or even being unable to turn back at all.

There are three types of people who are most prone to this mistake.

The first type: people who care too much about saving face.

These people hate being told they’re wrong more than anything.

They know full well the path they chose is wrong, but for the sake of their pride, they stubbornly keep going.

When people ask how they’re doing, they still say "Great".

They’re miserable on the inside, but put on a brave face for the world.

They keep it up until they can’t anymore—then they lose both face and everything they were trying to hold onto.

Really, what’s the point?

Admitting you’re wrong isn’t shameful.

What’s shameful is stubbornly clinging on when you know you’re wrong.

The second type: people who can’t let go of what they’ve already invested.

These people always have the thought, "I’ve already put so much into this."

Time, money, feelings, energy… the more you’ve invested, the harder it is to let go.

In economics, this is called "sunk cost".

What’s already spent can’t be recovered, so it shouldn’t influence your current decisions.

But people just can’t wrap their heads around that.

To avoid wasting what they’ve already put in, they end up investing even more.

And they sink deeper and deeper.

Think about it—

You’ve already lost 100,000 yuan. Do you cut your losses now, or throw in another million trying to win it back?

You’ve already wasted three years on this. Do you get out now, or waste another three waiting for an uncertain turnaround?

The answer is obvious, but so many people just can’t bring themselves to do it.

The third type: people who rely on wishful thinking.

These people always think, "If I just wait a little longer, things will get better."

Wait a little longer, and maybe there’ll be a turnaround.

Wait a little longer, and maybe he’ll change.

Wait a little longer, and maybe the market will pick up.

They wait and wait, but what comes isn’t a turnaround—it’s an even worse situation.Wishful thinking is the biggest trap in life.

You think you’re waiting for an opportunity, but really you’re just waiting for yourself to completely fall apart.

How to "Return Before Going Far"

After all that, how do you actually manage to "return before going far"?

Three methods.

First: do regular "reviews" of your life.

Don’t wait until you’ve hit a dead end to turn back.

Every once in a while, pause and ask yourself:

Is the path I’m on right now the right one?

Is what I’m doing right now what I really want to be doing?

Is my current state getting better, or worse?

You don’t have to wait for some big milestone—once a month, once a quarter, whatever works.

It’s like driving a car. You don’t wait until you crash into a wall to turn the steering wheel.

You have to check your direction every now and then, and adjust a little if you’re off course.

Make tiny adjustments every time, and you’ll never go too far down the wrong road.

Second: listen to good advice.

As the old saying goes, those involved are blind; those on the sidelines see clearly.

When you’re in the thick of it, you might not see the truth. But the people around you sometimes see things more clearly than you do.

So don’t be too stubborn. When someone tells you you’re off track, don’t jump to argue right away.

First think—does what they’re saying make sense?

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to listen to everyone.

But the words of people who truly want the best for you, and people who have more experience than you—you should take those to heart.

So many people wouldn’t have gone so far down the wrong path if they’d just listened to one word from their parents, or one word from a friend.

Third: don’t wait until you’re "ready" to turn back.

A lot of people don’t *not* want to turn back—they just think "it’s too late to turn back now" or "turning back now would be such a waste".

Wait until I save a little more money, wait until I learn a few more skills, wait until I finish this project…

And while they’re waiting, they go even farther off course.

Remember this saying:

The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The second best time is now.

Turning back is the same way.

The best time to turn back is the moment you realize something’s wrong. The second best time is right now.

It’s never too late to turn back.

If you turn back today, you save yourself one more day of going the wrong way.

If you turn back tomorrow, you lose one more day to the wrong path.

Don’t wait.

Final Thoughts

"Returning before going far", from the First Line of the Return Hexagram, is such a down-to-earth piece of wisdom.

It doesn’t spout some grand philosophy. It’s just about one thing—

If you’re wrong, turn back. The sooner, the better.

Don’t cling to pride, don’t cling to what you’ve already lost, don’t rely on wishful thinking.

Come back before you’ve gone too far, and you’ll have no great remorse—supreme good fortune.

Life is a long road, and everyone drifts off course sometimes.

Drifting off course isn’t scary. What’s scary is refusing to come back.

Only people who can turn back in time can go the distance in life.

Because they know—

Direction matters more than being right, and turning back takes more courage than stubbornly pushing on.