My wife recently asked me a random question – “What do you regret the most in life?”
I hadn’t really thought about the question, so I gave it some thoughts.
Then, my answer was – “I can’t really think of anything that I really, really, really regret about.”
Trust me, I do have many regrets: for starters, not buying Bitcoins in 2008 🙂
But I couldn’t think of “real regrets”. By real regrets, I mean the kind of regrets that will haunt you until the end of your life, such as:
- Escaping from an oppressive regime alone, with the rest of the family still left behind
- Getting into drugs or other destructive habits that ruin your life irrevocably
- Talking about starting a company forever, without actually starting one
- Not following a girl (or a guy) you can build a life with
These are real regrets. I couldn’t think of any such real regrets.
It made me feel thankful. Even though my life isn’t a breakout success by any measure, I guess I lived a pretty decent life, judging from the lack of real regrets.
So stop and think about your life for a moment: if you can’t think of real regrets that will follow you until the end of life, you lived a good life. One more reason to be thankful about life.