Regret

It is not rare for us to hear people say that they want a time machine or the power to turn back time. In fact, we ourselves, have probably wished for that at certain points in our lives. We sometimes want to go back to fix a mistake, or to correct a "wrong" decision. This is caused, partially by the feeling of regret that comes after the decision, or the outcome of our decision.

Regret, like all other negative feelings, is something that we like to avoid or get rid of. The thing is, chances of falling into this feeling is very high, because we confront many decisions in life. Once we choose the "wrong" course of action in a situation that is very important, regret would be knocking on our hearts pretty soon.

Have you ever made a promise to someone, but later on disappointed him/her because you weren't able to fulfill that promise? You then thought that it would have been better if you hadn't committed or promised anything. Have you ever jumped the ladder, but failed miserably because the girl wasn't there to catch you? Did you forego an opportunity in favor of another, but realized later on that you don't like the one you chose? I am sure that each one of us could add tens and hundreds more of similar situations, and they all sum up to one thing: regret.

Now, if we are so eager to turn back time and correct a mistake just because of this feeling of regret, can't we just eliminate regret completely? I just made it sound easy, but it's actually hard. Although compare it to building a time machine, I'm sure this would be more feasible in our current time. So how do we eliminate regret? Don't believe in it.

This statement needs a bit of an explanation and persuasion. Even I took a lot of time to be able to somewhat apply it. The reason why I used quotation marks when I refer to "wrong" decisions, is that there was a time when that decision wasn't wrong at all. That time was before you made the decision. Although there are probably a few times when we deliberately choose something that we know is wrong, generally, we choose an alternative because we feel that it is the right course of action. That is, at some point in time, we believed in the alternative that we chose. However, once we experience the negative outcomes of that decision, that is the time when we say that the choice was incorrect. However, we don't have the luxury or capability to turn back time. As such, the best thing to do is to take it positively and learn from the experience instead of regretting it. Again, before we discovered the consequence of our decision, we believed in the choice that we made. There is no point to turn it back just because the outcome wasn't the one we were expecting.

Lastly, I can offer you an even easier way out of regret than what I just shared. The easy route is to avoid making critical decisions. By doing so, you can literally eliminate the chances of you, falling into the feeling of regret. Also, by doing so, you literally eliminate your chances of seeing the love of your life, getting a job, and typically, being a human being.

In a short statement, I'll summarize the three alternatives. When confronting a decision, you could avoid and not try at all, you could try and regret it when it fails, or you could try and learn from it when it fails. My choice here is obvious. What's yours?