Sep 22 2008
Regrets - I’ve Had a Few
Fifty is a great age for looking back and evaluating where we have been and where we feel we should be going in the future. It is common for people of this age group to say, “If I knew then what I know now . . .” or “If I had it to do all over again. . .” or “If only I was (fill in the age of your choice) years old again, I would do things differently. . . “
All of this is a waste of breath and brain cells. We aren’t twenty-one, we didn’t know then what we know now and we can’t go back in time. Even if we could, we would likely make the same mistakes or even a few that would have turned out worse.
For each of us, our past is a sealed vault. You can view it with the 20/20 vision of memory, but that’s where it stops. You can’t touch it. You can’t change it. Stop wasting time trying.
So, armed with the knowledge that you can’t do anything about the past, you might as well stop thinking about it with regret or remorse. You can’t rework the past but you can, and definitely should, do something with the present. It may not be too late to make the changes or improvements that you value.
Do you wish you had put more effort into your education when you were younger? Enroll in a class, a course of study or even a degree program to start you on a new career.
Do you regret the effort or lack of effort you put into relationships with significant others, parents, children, friends, co-workers, strangers in the street? Look to the people you interact with today and decide where to put your efforts.
It is too late for the past (it always was!). It is not too late for the present. Regret is a waste of time. If you have it, use it to make yourself a better person in the here and now. Beyond that just dismiss it for what it is - useless energy and emotion that does nothing buy weigh you down.
It’s not too late, but it’s later than you think. Considering the truth of those two opposing, yet absolutely true statements, it’s time to put one foot in front of the other and get on with it.
