Woo, regret! This is a big one and I've been looking forward to covering this topic. Something happened today to make me want to finally just up and write the article. It may seem minuscule and rather irrelevant in the grand scheme of things but even still, that fearful feeling of regret can be overwhelming, painstakingly tremendous and heavy on your shoulders. It's a personal emotional debt and misery that we ourselves insist on placing ourselves in because we feel things could've happened differently and we focus too much on that.
The thing is, that's wasted energy. We don't know if it would've went down that way in the first place honestly and life is mysterious like that. It'll take you from place to place, stage to stage, emotion to emotion without sometimes fully understanding why and that's what we just must accept and give into. The flow of life. Yes, it's good to make things happen, go out there and get things you want for yourself done and over with although sometimes the circumstances can change (i.e. someone gets ill, arrangements for dinner get switched to a new restaurant, you spill your coffee on your shirt/pants and it "ruins" your day, you get called to babysit your best friend's kids/early teens.. etc. and so forth) and you must handle what you're dealt with. Roll with the punches and play the hand you're dealt, like Vegas.
Today I'd been getting ready to take the bus back home from a transit station in the south side of the city and said goodbye to my sister who's been helping me through recent struggles, tough times and sad emotions and it's tough to say those goodbyes sometimes. It really can be, especially when you yourself are already experiencing hardship or just generally having a difficult time with your life as of late. Things can't always be perfect and nor will they ever be as I've stressed the point before and I'll continuously stress it again for all you perfectionists out there. Imperfect perfection, IS perfection.
I said my goodbyes and she went on the LRT train back home while I took my bus likewise. The many thoughts running through my head all circled around regret and how I wish I'd had just gotten back on a different bus and went back to the transit station to go see my sister again and visit for longer before needing to go back home, and I felt so shameful and full of regret over such a simple thing. For others, situations like this are more difficult due to distance but my sister and I live only 25-30 minutes away by car. So it isn't all that bad and I will see her again soon and share some more sibling bonding time through these recent struggles. That's the thing that everyone has to keep in mind when it comes to choices, regret and wishing you'd taken a different route, whatever happens is meant to happen and although it may not seem like it in the moment, I promise you it's the truth. You will have the opportunity to see that person/do that thing you wanted to do again, it may not be in the exact same way but it'll be in the way and time that it needs to be, it's all apart of life.
I hope this post isn't bringing anyone down to be honest, I've had my fair share of tough times and struggles over this past year and actually past few years overall but this summer as is has been very stressful with tragedy, heartache and devastation all coupled into a wadding ball of anxiety, PTSD, stress, depression, misery & injury but I've persevered. There's always something that could've been done differently or could've went one way rather than another but the funny thing is, that's all imagined in our minds, it'll never always go down exactly how we plan/hope/assume things will be, they happen in their own way and the way they need to to get us where we need to be. I promise you, that's how it's always been, it's how it is now and it's how it'll always be. As confusing as the world seems to be sometimes, it'll always come through in the end and the reasons for its chaos or its mysterious ways will always be revealed. There's a method to the world's madness and it's hidden sometimes but it always shines through eventually, no matter who or where you are.. Or how it does, it'll happen and you'll feel relief, happiness and joy. That regret you had will diminish. Regrets are just mistakes that you can learn from. No need to beat yourself up and be hard about it. Always maintain a positive attitude! :)
"Stay away from what might have been and look at what can be" - Marsha Petrie Sue.
That quote is so inspiring to me and as soon as I read it, it made me feel better and enlightened to the fact that worrying and fearing everything that's happened to the point of regret is pointless because it just wastes time on an issue that's already happened and over with. Why do that when you can literally be utilizing that time to fix the problem for next time and not letting it bother you? There's always going to be new/other opportunities for you, no matter who you are or what someone's told you in the past. You need to learn how to see past what they're saying and take the good from the bad and roll with it. No matter what situation you're in or where. Namaste everyone! :)
Ending/Last Notes: "Life is now, and we always have a choice: Do we drown in regret and dwell over what never came to be? Or use our energy to create what can be? Today, I am choosing the latter" - Lori Deschene of TinyBuddha
(solace)
Wow. this is a very well written piece. Very inspiring.
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