Regrets are a funny thing. There is such a fine but acute line between the types of regrets that dictate your present and future, and the types that simply allow you to learn and deal with such issues if they enter into your life again. Some regrets are suffocating while others are, if approached the right way, liberating.
It’s a question I have been asked many times, and in most cases my replies have been vague, cliched and somewhat sterile, not intentionally but because in the past I simply didn’t know the answer. When I sat down to write my book, the internal dialogue I had to engage with gave me the clarity in my mind to ask myself the question I have been asked by so many people.
In truth, my regrets have one common denominator that threads through much of my teenage and adult life and I’m guessing will correlate with the regrets of many others in society.
I was always so caught up with getting somewhere, achieving something, gaining something, winning something, loving someone, being something, getting somewhere, that I simply forgot to enjoy the journey. I got so caught up with a destination that I missed the point, and the irony is, when you get to that destination you don’t really feel the way you thought you would. The reason is that you missed all the amazing things along the way. Although I have many small regrets, the reality is they all fit into the same box.
I am lucky enough to be on the side of learning from mine, so in the future I’m going to make sure to embrace and experience the journey.