No Regrets

In Life as story from Blue Skunk Blog, Doug Johnson asks

“So what might you regret in your dotage?”

I don’t want to have any regrets when I get old (I know many young people reading this might think that I’m already old but my dad is 97 and still going strong. This means that I’m still in the prime of my life!)

But, I think you must consciously decide to do this and it doesn’t just come naturally.

I don’t want to regret making bad decisions. I want to purposefully make decisions that are right for me. This means I must think about the consequences and whether I will be able to live with them or not. When I was young, I believed that everything was black or white and as I gain more experience in life, I realize that there are a lot of gray areas.

I would regret that I was too afraid to try new things that I really wanted to do. I won’t let other people’s fears or doubts control my actions. This has been really hard for me because I value my family and friend’s opinions but I need to realize they are just opinions and not facts.

I would regret that I didn’t have realistic goals. I don’t want to regret something that I knew was never really a possibility. That would just be foolish dreaming.

I don’t want to regret that I didn’t take a chance on a relationship when I should have. I’m talking about an abusive relationship but one that could be a meaningful friendship. I don’t want to regret that I didn’t work on a friendship because I didn’t have the time or because I was afraid that this person might hurt my feelings.

I might regret not taking time to enjoy the present times. I look back now at my children and wonder how did time go so fast. As life goes, many people I know are no longer with me and I wonder if I could have made more time to spend with them. When I was young, I didn’t appreciate the wisdom of many older people. Now I’m one of the “older people.”

I think this is important that we share this concept with our students. Now is the time to talk about them thinking of what they don’t want to regret in the future. When the future arrives, it is too late.

What would your regret when you get old? Please share.