When asked if you have any regrets, the popular response seems to be some variation of "I have none. Every decision and mistake I've made has helped shape me into the person I am today."
I get it and to some degree, I agree. I've made my mistakes and some of them have certainly been character building. I love the saying "good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement." So, I understand where it comes from.
But no regrets whatsoever? I beg to differ.
That extra half slice of pizza I might have on a Friday night dinner? I regret it the next morning, as do my thighs.
Not sleeping in a whole heck of a lot more before I had kids? I regret it.
My biggest financial regret thus far has been in buying a house in California in 2005. BIG mistake. We made a big down payment, have never missed or was late on a single payment, and yet we are so screwed. Do I regret it? Absolutely.
I think about my regrets sometimes and run through them in my head repeatedly, wishing I could go back in time. Some require just a single second of thought to change. ONE second. Shouldn't we all be entitled to a couple of do overs in our lifetime?
So having a few regrets and owning the fact that I have them, makes me wonder when making a big decision. Will I regret this? Will I regret not doing this? I guess only time will tell, but this much is for sure: if I regret my actions, I will probably call it a regret, not a "character building karmic accident", not that there's anything wrong with that. If that works for you, more power to you. Call me crazy, but I think having some regrets is a good thing. The lyrics to one of my currently favorite songs goes "to never regret means you have to forget, and I don't think that could." That sums it up much better than I ever could and it sort of rhymes. Nice one, Weepies, nice one.
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