I Regret Nothing

“We all make mistakes, have struggles and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future.” - Steve Maraboli

Quite the statement. I regret nothing. Because we go through life with a lot of regrets. I regret eating that ice cream last night. I regret not putting on pants that actually fit. I regret tripping down those stairs. I regret trying to take the stairs two at a time to begin with. So many regrets that we have in our life. Just in a day or the year or five years. But imagine a world where we regret nothing. Imagine looking back saying I learned something from all of those regrets. I lived through all of those regrets. I gained through all those regrets. 

I hear you asking questions. How in the world can you gain from regret? It sounds more like a loss. A loss of confidence. A loss of dignity. A loss of respect. On the contrary it’s in the eye of the beholder. The person who fell in the muddy puddle in front of everyone regrets wearing white and taking that path. But change the perspective and you have a hilarious story to tell your friends and you are the star of the party. You gained a fun anecdote. Regret trusting a friend? You gained a lesson in boundaries. Regret a relationship that had a bad ending? You gained wisdom for future relationships and also wisdom to pass on to others. 

We can’t get stuck in the why or if only it had been different. That world is an imaginary world that does not exist.

It happened. We did it. Those words were said. We cannot change it or take it back. So what now? We accept it and try to move on from it. It’s officially part of your story now. Making it a part of you. Just as your past, mistakes, joys, highs, lows and everything between is a part of you. So is this new story. Regret is a misuse of your energy. Let it go and move forward. 

If we had no regrets at all we probably never did anything with our lives to begin with. Never attempting anything is a sad story indeed. Think of all the chances and opportunities you missed out on. What are regrets and mistakes compared to all the successes and achievements? Both big and small. That’s basically sitting down and letting life just go by you. Let’s not take a chance on missing out on something huge just to avoid regrets. You have so much in you that needs to be shared with the world. So many moments to experience. So many chances to try. Live fully. Love completely. Be yourself truly. Regret nothing!