Regret

Regret is only a feeling. It is a ridicule. Dwelling in it takes us nowhere.

We are individuals. We are special in our own way. There is no need to compare ourselves with other family member or peers that we know of. If others are willing to teach, we should be ready to learn. While people can teach us many things by words, it is only wise to also observe the way of life our mentors are living. Anyone can be our mentor. Choose wisely.

There are people that we look up to because they are quick at everything. It seems that they have many ideas to which they will take action even before knowing what is to be expected. These people are merely quick-tempered. It is because they are too fast, everyone else is too slow for them. Whatever that they have in mind today, they would have expected it done yesterday. When it is still pending, they will be angry at everyone around them.

Everyone else sees them as being too quick to judge. They hardly ever regret on their decisions even it could have been the break point where life ends because they would have thought of another new idea by then. While having many ideas is good, perhaps all ideas should be written down to be picked on the best before taking action on any.

Humans tend to be born at two opposite ends. While we envy the fast, we also look up to the careful decider for advice.

People who are fast cannot be slow, and people who are careful are never fast. Some people are spending most of their time just thinking of means and ways to go about a problem. They are afraid of making mistakes. They loathe the feeling of regret. Sometimes, they just sit on the list of dos and don’ts for ages, never ever deciding on any to take action upon. Every time there is a feeling to move forward, something else will be pulling backwards.

While being careful is great, we cannot be too careful about everything. A lot of times, we do need to take action to finally see the outcome. Nobody can predict the future, so, why worry about it? Perhaps it would be easier to just strike off those unrelated or unworkable ideas, concentrate on those that may or may not shine, then pick on the one that we think best works for us. Loitering in between too many to decide on brings us nowhere. If we take too long, the opportunity just evaporates, we may regret for the rest of our lives.

Never let ourselves regret for not taking action.

We need to find balance in between. Being too quick to decide without much thought and being too slow that time runs out. We have to understand that time do not wait. Once the minute is past, there is no bringing back.

When we are young, we may think that we still have a lot of time to spend. This may be true to a certain point if we compare the time that we have to the time our parents have. But, life is too short to push everything till tomorrow. Nothing else in life is worth more than life itself.

We often think that our studies, career, and friends are more important than family, nature, and self. We need to set our priorities right. Though we may be young today but time passes swiftly and before we know it, we are already in our thirties, forties, fifties, and so on. How much time did we spend with our grandparents, and parents? How much time did we spend with nature? How much time did we spend for ourselves?

However active we want our lives to be, we should always have time aside for the little things that matter in life. Perhaps we now think that we should hustle through time to get what we want so that we do not regret not taking action upon it. While being the action taker, have we ever thought of the values and effects it brings to others and ourselves? What is the use of having success without health? Who do we have to share our success without love? How can we help others without life?

We need sufficient rest for health and clarity. Live with no regrets!

 

Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can’t build on it – it’s only good for wallowing in.

Kathleen Mansfield Murry nee Beauchamp (Katherine Mansfield), New Zealand writer and poet, 1888-1923