How To Live Without Regret

Picture this..

You have just had a super exhausting day, in which you worked more than you have worked in all of last year.

After this long, intense and soul sapping day, you pack up, ready to go home and hit the hay.

Walking down the street, you resist the urge to just lie down on the road and go to sleep.

But then - while thinking about what you will have for dinner, you glance behind, just in time to see a black shadow slam into you and grab you in a powerful bear hug!

Even as you instinctively struggle against this hold, you notice another attacker in a hoodie charging towards you!

As you manage to break free of the bear hug, the guy in the front swings at you and gets you in the shoulder with cake.

That's right. You read it right. Cake.

This is more or less what happened to me on my 25th birthday last week. It was an awesome end to a very non-birthday like day where my mates tried to surprise me! (with some cake in the face)

However, I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had I been jumped for real.

What if that had turned in to my last day ever?

I know. I know. It's a pretty depressing way of thinking about it.

But what if it did happen? Would I regret anything?

The answer was painfully obvious. Just like most normal people, there are so many things that I regret doing (or not doing).

But why is regret such a bad thing?

Well mainly for two reasons:

1. It makes you feel shit after everything is said and done (when you can't really change anything).
2. Whenever you make a choice (that doesn't work out the way you wanted it to), there is room for regret.

So what can we do about this? Instead of torturing ourselves thinking about what's done, is there a way to get past this?

Well according to Kelly Weiss from Wholesome Travels, apparently there is. In fact there are seven ways of doing so.

Below are a few of my favourites:

• Understand happiness is a choice. And it really is up to you to focus on that one positive, instead of the hundred negatives surrounding it.
• Don't think twice about expressing love and appreciation. Because once the time for it is gone, it won't ever come back.
• Don't settle for less than what you truly want. You might still fail and regret going for it. However, at least this way you have a shot at getting it.
• Creating your own definition of success is key to finding happiness. Because going by other people's definition, you will always be trying to play catch up (and never be truly happy).

With these in mind, hopefully both you and I will be able to avoid any more (or at least move past previous) regrettable decisions because at the end of the day...

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