Regrets

WE ALL HAVE REGRETS. But we’d rather not focus on them. We’d rather focus on the positive side of things. Talking about regrets doesn’t seem so positive, so we wouldn’t dare allow our regrets to come to the fore of our thoughts.

But  there is something positive about realizing our regrets and talking about them. Knowing what we regret the most in our lives can lead us to better decision-making today, or even influence us to make a u-turn or to change our course. Being fully aware of our regrets can guide us in realizing what we truly value in life. It can help us pick up lessons from our past, thus allowing us to better ourselves.

Having regrets can actually be a good thing. It means we have realized that we’ve made mistakes. After all, you cannot regret something you don’t recognize as a mistake.

Regrets are not, in themselves, negative. What can be negative are our attitude towards our regrets. Things become negative only when we decide to dwell on our regrets, yet wouldn’t do anything to ensure that we wouldn’t have the same regrets in the future.

So why don’t we try to do things differently and for once, think and talk about our regrets and what we can do to ensure we wouldn’t have similar of them in the future?

To start, here are two of my biggest regrets:

1) I regret those moments I thought I was too old to try something. There were things I wanted to do in my early 20s but didn’t because I thought it was late (among them: taking a second degree -- in IT). Now I look back and realize being 20-something is still young to be late for anything.

2) I regret those moments when I put a limitation to myself. Now I know better. You can do whatever you set your mind to achieve. You just have to work really hard.