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What do you regret more?


Which do you regret more?  

  1. 1. Which do you regret more?

    • Things I've done
      114
    • Things I didn't do
      139


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I let go of most, but there are a few opportunities I passed up that in retrospect, I'm like, why didn't I do that! One was a very out of the blue job prospect from a random, but totally legit, guy I happened to meet in Hong Kong who worked for Doctors Without Borders who was like, why don't you come be the admin person on this project in Indonesia then go work for my friend in India. I was unhappy with my job in China, but for some reason I said no. Oh well. Letting go.

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I voted for things that I didn't do, but honestly, I don't have many regrets at all. I figure it's a waste of time to continually look back at what might have been different. I can't go back and change anything, but I can face today and hope to make it the best it can be.

 

God has always been my constant friend through my good decisions and bad ones. He applauds me when I'm successful and comforts me when I fail. I think He is a lot of the reason I can live without regret.

 

I never want to go back because I love my life more each passing year.

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Interesting question.I don't have a lot of regrets over things I didn't do. Actually perhaps that is not completely true, because I am advising my daughters to do a few things differently from me! I have not done any wild things that I regret and I live a regular life, but insert some drama and fun into it as possible. I would most likely have been a much wilder, less domesticated girl had I not married early and with this dh, though, because I do have a crazy side in me.

 

I do really try to not live with regrets, though, as I see my mother and her always looking back and I refuse to be like that, always working on looking for the future.

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Other.

 

At any "fork in the road", the way you chose to go could be either something that you did, or something that you didn't do because you did the other.

 

I regret things I didn't do because I chose to do other things instead that in hindsight were not good for me. So perhaps I actually regret things I did?

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Thankfully - there are very few things I regret. There are things that I could have done differently, but at the time I didn't have better information. Based on what I knew at the time - I think I did the best I could.

 

I do regret things I did not do. Not a lot, not actively (I've kinda become an "in the moment" person), but there are a few things.

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I voted things I've done because I can look back and see where I made one particular choice and that set me on a trajectory to other choices that I regret.

 

However, I try to remember that the past is over. While I may wish I had made different choices, I didn't and this is where I am today. I want to look and move forward continually.

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Many times this can go either way. The night before my first wedding, I felt like it was the wrong decision but I was too afraid to call it off. It was a disaster of a marriage.

So...I regret marrying him, but it could be turned around into I regret not listening to my inner voice and calling it off.

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I don't regret things not done because I do feel that I am on the path I should be on and took the steps necessary to get here. I had a chance to live my dreams and I don't regret any of that.

 

Generally, I don't regret things I have done because I too feel that they have led me where I am today. I do live with one major regret for a choice I made that encompassed several years of my life. On one hand, it drove me into therapy and helped me solve a lot of issues but on the other, it was just a bad choice and hurt someone deeply, something that could not be taken back. I regret that.

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Gosh, neither and both? I don't live with a whole lot of regrets. There are things that I wish I could have changed, but I didn't have the power/knowledge/divine capabilities to. And because these things were out of my control, I have really had to come to peace that my life is as it is supposed to be. It's not a burden that I can or should carry. (The big one in this category is the birth of ds11 and everything that led to his brain injury.)

 

I also feel a lot of optimism that those things that I haven't done, but want to do, will someday become a reality. (I would like to get my RN one day.)

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They are the same thing - two sides of the same coin.

 

If I regretted not going on an adventure (something I didn't do). I also regretted staying home (something I did).

 

That's how I looked at it too. So I voted things I've done, because they all lead back to the same place.

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Mistakes I've made belong to me. They've helped shape my beliefs, my actions, and my personality. My oldest daughter was a "mistake" that set me on the path to homeschooling mom of many rather than the career no-kids path I thought I'd chosen for myself. So mistakes often turn out to have rather positive consequences. I also don't regret choices I've made not to do something, as long as they were active choices. Looking back, I mostly regret the times I didn't follow through because I was lazy or cowardly.

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My motto since I was a little girl was "Don't do anything I'll regret" and it served me well. I have no regrets for things I've done.

 

I wish I would have understood that I might regret not having done things. "No regrets" is my revised motto. There are a few things I've regretted not doing, in part because of worrying I'd regret doing them.

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I don't have many regrets, but I certainly don't regret *not* doing anything (honestly can't think of anything I *wish* I'd done).

 

I do regret a few things I did do, although I don't lose sleep over it. Water under the bridge, which helped me to become the (hopefully better) person I am.

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Where is the "c'est payé, balayé, oublié, je me fous du passé" option? :tongue_smilie:

 

ETA: On a more serious note, things I did NOT do - exactly because those I DID are "payé, balayé, oublié" and I can go over it more calmly. The *lack* of an action you believe you should have taken always leaves a certain emptiness and a bitter taste.

Edited by Ester Maria
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