Life and Regrets

Is it possible to live life without regrets? I hear a few people say that, but it's difficult to think one might not want a do-over on at least a few things. Of course, those without regrets will often add they wouldn't change any mistakes because it's made them who they are today.

For me, two recent events brought into perspective how regrets are different. Regretting what you had no control over is futile; it's what you can do to change what might become a regret that is important.

My friend Diane recently lost her mother, someone whom I also considered a friend. They rode with me on trips to an annual writers convention so I became well acquainted with them outside of monthly meetings. Jean was a lovely lady and very independent despite her children's concern for her health and safety. Diane and I hoped to get the three of us together for lunch, but something also arose − now she is gone. This I regret because we might have gotten together before things interfered.

In talking with my sister in California, she again expressed how much she wished they had sought different medical treatment for my brother-in-law. My response to her was something I've said before: If you prayed about it and asked for healing, then you did what you could, and the direction to do something different would have prevailed. Simply put, if God's plan was to have our husbands live, then nothing we did or didn't do would have affected the outcome...period. Changing what I didn't and couldn't know, I can't regret.


My regrets stem from things I had control over, but hindsight is always 20/20. I think of the times I could have been a little nicer, been a little more generous, showed a little more caring. And I don't mean just for my late husband so I'll continue trying to live my life with as few regrets as I can by being a little kinder, a little more generous, and a little more caring toward everyone.