Regret

I don't really have very many regrets. I believe that it takes the sum of every experience you have and a decisions you make to shape you into the person that you are supposed to be. I do have a few situations in my life that I wish had turned out a little differently, and most of these are situations where I chose not to do anything at all. I have heard that our biggest regrets are not the things that we do wrong but the things that we do not do. I can attest to this, the times that I most often reflect on in my past are times where I didn't say what I felt or where I didn't take a risk. I am not sure that my life would have turned out any differently had I made different choices in those moments, however; the fact that I do not know what the outcome of speaking my mind or taking those risks could have been is something that weighs on my mind. Sometimes this whole process of considering "what could have happened" or "what might have been" is more bothersome and stressful to me than what the risks would have involved themeselves. As I write this blog I am reminded of the Jack Kerouac quote, "I often wonder what's in store for me in the direction I don't take." I think that everyone has times when they look back on certain turning points in their life and wonder where they would be now if they had made a different choice at that moment. This type of speculation is alright, to an extent; but I don't think there is much use in it. It's hard not to get wrapped up in the shoulda-coulda-woulda when things don't turn out the way we would like for them to. But when it comes down to it, regret is pointless isn't it? You can't change what has already happened. But you can change the way things are... so it is important to recognize a regret and realize what actions you can take to try and fix it or accept your regret and learn from it. Trust that where you are right now is where you are meant to be. This sounds so cliche and is definately hard to actually do. So I understand having regrets but I do not reccommend spending much time dwelling on them because if you're always looking back, you'll miss where you are now and you definately won't be moving forward.