Je ne regrette rien
Edith Piaf and Frank Sinatra got it right. The French cabaret singer didn’t regret anything about her or her country’s past and Ol’ Blue Eyes only had a few – but too few to mention. So I’ve followed their lyrical example and have always lived my life refusing to have regrets.
There are things that if I could go back in time I would do differently, of course, and there are plenty of opportunities I’d now grab wholeheartedly, but how can I regret them now? If I’d have really wanted to do something – such as taking a gap year or studying in America, like lots of my friends at the time – I would have found a way to do it. I made my decisions based on the circumstances at the time, so why dwell on the ‘what ifs’ now?
According to the experts in our fascinating piece on page 42 on how to regret-proof your life, hanging on to regrets can hold you back and make you ill. Often people let their regrets fester until they are so bitter they’re consumed with self-limiting beliefs. Instead, we need to look into the past to learn how to make better choices now and in the future.
I didn’t take that gap year when I was young as I didn’t have any money and needed to go straight to college so I could get my scholarship to survive. Now, instead of regretting it, I save every year to travel the world with my family. Let me know how you get on regret-proofing your life. Until next week,