The Oxford English Dictionary defines regrets as feelings of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over an occurrence or something that one has done or failed to do.
Many of us hold onto our regrets and let them stop us from living our lives. Our regrets can eat away at us; a mistake we made can hold us back from taking risks and doing new things, and missed opportunities can make us feel undeserving of new ones. Katherine Mansfield said, “Regret is an appalling waste of energy, you can’t build on it – it’s only good for wallowing in.”
In a blog post in 2017, Natalie Madeline said that if you regret something it is because you didn’t learn from it. If you wallow in your regrets and don’t acknowledge the life lessons you may have learned from your mistakes, then you will never grow. Alexander Graham Bell said, “When one door closes, another 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.”
Don’t let mistakes and regrets hold you back from doing new things and dreaming of new possibilities. Sydney J. Harris said that regret for the things we did can be tempered by time, but regret for the things we didn’t do is inconsolable.
We should much rather try new things and take risks than let our fear hold us back and regret it forever. Life is short and unpredictable, we can’t spend it living with fears and regrets. Steve Jobs once said, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”
If you make mistakes, don’t live with regrets; learn a life lesson and try again with a new perspective and a new game plan. Albert Einstein said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
