Where is the time to regret, when there is so little time to live your life?
We just have one life to live. How we want to live it – is completely in our hands. Every morning brings a whole new day filled with renewed opportunities and hope. But do we realize that? When we open our eyes in the morning, the first thing that comes to our mind is either some unfinished work or some unfinished conversation, and most of all regrets!
The human mind, or should I say, an uncontrolled and untrained human mind tends to dwell in negativity. Regretting the choices, we made in the past is one of them. And yes, it is painful when we realize that we can’t go back in time and change them.
Interestingly, scientific researches have proven that regret is one negative emotion that helps people to revisit their past actions and learn from them. It helps to re-focus and reinvent ways to deal with the same situation in a better way. After all, we learn from our past mistakes.
Here is a list of 10 such regret choices that leaves a sting in our heart every time we think about them.
#1. Not Doing What I Love Doing
Our entire life is defined by the choices we make. Every choice we make comes with a specific and non-negotiable trade-off that we have to deal with sooner or later. One of the regret choices include not doing what we love doing.
In the mad rush of running after deadlines and financial goals, we sometimes leave them for another day. Then, often one goal leads to another. We get so busy ticking off our to-do list that the time to do what we love to do never comes.
And one day when we look back, we feel, it wasn’t all that difficult to take out some time from our busy schedule. And then we say it with a regretful sigh… ‘I wish I realized it then!’
So, if you want to spare yourself from this one regret then, learn to seize the day! Sing, dance, travel, click photographs, cook, paint or do whatever you love doing. And do it now! Because it’s now or never!
#2. Not Pursuing My Dream Career
One of the biggest regret decisions of most people is that they did not choose the right career. They had their gut feeling prompting them to follow their passion. But they chose the path that seemed to be more secured and financially rewarding.
And then years later we regret decisions we made in the past. We regret choosing convenience over contentment. We repent choosing mundane and mediocrity over something that could drive us to excellence and a more fulfilling career.
#3. Stop Procrastination – Screw It Now
It is one that wise men have repeated time and again and we have failed to follow. It is pushing the work in hand for some other time.
The best way to live in the moment is to finish the work that can be finished right at the moment. Getting the things done at the right time increases our productivity and procrastination brings it down.
Procrastination is the reason behind most of our missed opportunities and eventually regret decisions.
#4. Not Being A Good Listener
Often, while having a conversation, we don’t listen to the other person. We listen as much as we feel is essential to revert. We interrupt the other person midway and start speaking. But, in the process, many things remain unheard of.
In relationships, if we forego the habit of hearing out what the other person is saying, it creates distance between each other. And this distance keeps expanding more and more.
Not listening completely when others speak might prevent you from helping them if they are in need. And later, when you come to know about it, you might regret it. But at that time, it might be late!
The habit of not listening can be extremely detrimental at the workplace. Instead of solving problems, it can make things more complicated which might lead to much more than just regrets.
#5. Let Them Free – End Toxic Relationship
Among many things that we realize much later in our lives, and it also causes grave repentance, is being in a toxic relationship. It could be with a friend, siblings, partners, and at times, unfortunately with parents as well.
If a person is filled with resentfulness from the core, everybody associated with him/ her has to bear the brunt. And knowingly or unknowingly, it leads to a toxic relationship.
It is not anyone’s fault to be in a toxic relationship, but being in a denial could of course a lifetime of regret. The best way to save yourself from regretting toxic relationships is to face the truth as soon as possible.
Be honest to yourself. Unfortunately, your faith in your relationship could be disillusion. You believe it to be a perfect relationship will not make it perfect in reality.
#6. Not Investing
Do you think you would ever regret keeping your money in your saving accounts? A lot of people avoid investing their money despite knowing the fact that investing in the share market or through mutual funds, could grow their money exponentially.
Little do we realize the necessity of investing at the time when we start earning. It feels so empowering to get the first paycheck in our hands. It is an incredible feeling to be able to pay our bills and fulfill our aspirations. At this time, we all know that we will not be earning all our life.
Smart people start planning for retirement from the day they receive their first paycheck. However, most people keep procrastinating. Even worse, a lot of people leave their money sitting idle in their bank accounts which earn interest that is much less than the average annual inflation rate. Years later, this turns out to be their greatest regrets in life.
#7. Not Willing To Learn
Having spoken about investment, one more thing that we should never give up is learning. However, in the mad rush to achieve goals and deadlines, often learning and upgrading our skills take a back seat. And this is where the journey downhills begin. Slowly, we start to inch back from our peers and competitors who are constantly learning and upgrading their skills parallel with their jobs.
Highly successful people like Bill Gates, Warner Buffet are known for their reading habits. Hence, for the love of your career and your overall betterment keep learning. Let this not be one of your regret choices.
#8. Not Loving Yourself Before Loving Others
We spend our entire life loving our families, kids, and friends. However, we forget to tend to ourselves. Rather, we don’t bother because as we care for others, we also want them to care for us too. And that’s exactly where we go wrong. Because, if we don’t know how to keep ourselves happy, why would other people even bother to make us happy? This leads to resentment in relationships.
We must learn to love ourselves the way we want others to love us. But self-love is not selfishness or being self-centered. And since, we have always been taught to prioritize the needs of others ahead of ours, developing self-love requires constant and conscious efforts.
#9. Not Being Able To Forgive People
With the habit of living with resentment and endless complaints all through our lives, we get into a vicious circle of negativity. This pulls us into a bottomless pit of regrets. It is important to forgive people.
We must learn to let go of negative feelings so that we can get ourselves to a happier and more peaceful space.
#10. Regret Giving Up
If we want to achieve something, we need to be tenacious.
If we want a stronger and well-toned core, we need to stay longer in the plank position.
If we need to achieve success, we need to work for it.
If we aim at getting financial independence, we need to work towards it.
There are no two ways to it. There is no giving up or even regret giving up. You need to work towards it, one step at a time, and keep putting in efforts till you achieve your goals. There are no two ways to it.
Conclusion
Living in the moment is the best way to deal with regrets. Being empathetic towards people around us, being patient, and taking a stack of our life is what we need to imbibe in our day-to-day life.
Being responsible for our words and actions is the key. Because, while it is true that we learn from our mistakes, it is good for us and our surrounding if some irrevocable mistakes can be avoided. It will save us a lot of time that we will spend regretting for the rest of our lives.
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