I don't think I've ever touched on this topic before. But it is an important one.
I used to feel a lot of regret. Regret for chances I didn't take, chances I did take, mistakes I made, things I said or didn't say, opportunities lost, etc. I'd wish that I had like a time machine I could jump into and fix the things I did wrong and make my life better.
For the most part, I don't feel that way anymore. Maybe some small things like wishing I'd had invested in Bitcoin when I first heard about it. I'd probably be able to retire right now if I had. Professional things for sure. I have the best job I've ever had right now, but I sometimes wish I would have discovered this career path years ago and be a little further ahead in my career. But while these things would improve my life materially, in the grand scheme of things I can't say I'm truly bothered by them. Certainly not enough to feel any kind of sustained regret over them.
While I think my relationship with my wife would be improved had I had relationships and sex with other women prior to getting married (my wife has said as much), that improvement would be marginal at best. My marriage is great, and our relationship is great and I can't say that I regret not dating more in my younger years.
I think maybe that's the point of this post. I have no real regrets anymore, even though my past feelings of regret were real at one time. For me, it's largely because things worked out: I married a wonderful woman, and I have a wonderful career. And I recognize that some of these things would never have happened if those past situations I regretted had turned out differently.
To be clear, things didn't work out all by themselves. I had to take active steps to improve them, and to keep trying to improve. It's not easy, I think humans have a tendency to become complacent and lazy for sure. And sometimes you can try really hard, and things still don't work out.
Without coming off like some kind of tacky life coach, I guess I'm just saying that wherever you are in life, you feelings of regret or hopelessness might be very real right now, but you may look back on them in a few years and realize they were a necessary part of your life's journey. Or you may not. Impossible to know without the benefit of hindsight.
Anyway, I'll try to post here more often. Not sure what about, but some thing or another.
