No More Regrets

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. This is a saying that we have all heard, but has anyone ever really thought about it? The more I think about this saying, the more I agree with it. Everyone is constantly taking things for granted, whether it is something materialistic, an ability one has worked for, or even a relationship with a person. All my life I have had things I love and adore slip through my fingers so fast I could hardly believe it was gone. The feeling of regret is what seems to accompany a loss the most. A materialistic person who has lost an item may think, “What am I to do now? How can I ever be accepted without this? If only people could have seen that before I lost it…” An athlete who has lost their ability to walk could possibly be thinking, “Why didn’t I just use my head instead of constantly being so reckless? My whole life was based around this. How will I ever be happy again?” A person who has just lost a family member would probably be thinking, “If only I could have said one more thing to her…if only I could have seen her one last time…if only I could have let her know how much I loved her…” Lastly, the person who has lost the support of friends might be thinking, “I never knew how lonely things could get without friends…I sure do wish things could go back the way things were.” All the thoughts that come with having something ripped out of you fingers are regretful. We feel like we could have or should have done something different or taken advantage of what we had while we had it. Wouldn’t it feel great to have absolutely no regrets? Wouldn’t it feel great to seize every opportunity and run with it? Wouldn’t it feel great to live in the moment and pour all of our blood and sweat into everything we did? I think the greatest thing of all would be to love others like we have never loved before. Love not only brings the most emotional regrets that are much harder to forget about, but it also brings the most meaningful and worth while regrets. One positive motive that I have personally taken hold of from experiencing this type of regret is to love unconditionally the people you are surrounded with, because you will never even begin to fathom the magnitude of what you had until they are gone.

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

For all of the people who have regrets that they just can’t seem to let go of, I would like to tell you to let go of them now. Easier said than done, right? You will never completely forget about your regrets, and I don’t think you should forget. My piece of advice is don’t let your regrets take control of your life. Use your regrets to your advantage by applying what you learned to your life, and by never making the same mistake again.

"When one door closes another one opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."