It happens all the time we have a nasty fall and we finally get back up and all of the sudden we act like big tzaddikim. In a way, we are acting no different than the maplim. The cheit of the meraglim a tremendous yeridah that we are still paying the price for today. Yet, what happens. They realize they made a mistake, they do what they think is teshuva, and the next day they are in their own eyes tzaddikim and they are off to Eretz Yisroel. The Torah teaches us that this is not the way. You need to slowly slowly work on yourself. Forty years in the midbar and with all of the connotations of what a midbar is. And even then you may not see the fruit of that labor in yourself but in your kids. There are no shortcuts in life.