Are you a “No Regrets” kinda person or more of a “Regrets, I’ve had a few...” or the down right wallow-er in “would’a should’a could’a” ?

I can be any of the above.

“Perfect Marvelyne” loves the idea of “You only live once – do it with no regrets!” but (see – stupid but always jumping in!) as hard as I try – I still find myself sometimes left with “I wish I had…“

Most recent example?

I wish I had known that if you eat an entire bag of these at the movie theater it will turn your poop bright, horrifyingly red. Like horror movie terrifying OMG I’m gonna die kind of red!

Yep. I wish I’d known that BEFORE I called my doctor. (*sigh).

And I will confess (and this is even more embarrassing) I’ve lost afternoons (or weekends) in bed with comfort chips and bad TV regretting more serious events.

And I know that behavior does not improve my life! I’m smarter than that – why do I ever let it happen?? And… I think I’m regretting that I’ve wasted time regretting stuff… It’s such a vicious cycle!

I really want to be more laid back and casual and hip and cool about it all… but truth is I’m a very analytic, careful, skittish, introvert type person. And if I listen to much to a lot of hype around me I’m left feeling like a total loser… and the circle goes on and on.

Side note confession ~ I’m sure you’ve seen some of the photos of bad tattoos going around the net… one of my favs is the one all across the back of a neck spelling out in big letters “NO REGERTS!” … Ahhh. I feel better already. 🙂 Does that make me mean?!?!

Now more seriously here, after many years of dancing with this frenemy there are some things I’ve discovered (often the hard way) about dealing with the past…

– Regrets can overtake your life and make it miserable.
– Regrets (or at least mistakes) are inevitable if you are in motion.
– If you never acknowledge mistakes you never learn from them.
– Pretending to yourself (or others) you don’t have them … might just be called lying.
– Learning from our past is a most excellent way to better our future.
– Every choice you’ve ever made has led you to this moment and place in life.
– Every choice you will make is in front of you… The power of tomorrow is yours!

So sometimes, I personally believe, reflection is good for the soul,
the mind and the future. You can’t ‘live’ there
but it might be an inevitable layover on your journey …

And most importantly : you can carry forward a lesson learned
that you have in your wisdom bank forever!

And that is truly priceless. 

So whatever your personal “slogan” is – be gentle with yourself.

Nothing is wasted when it’s learned from… And most precious of all – being willing to share what you’ve learned with others (who have earned the right to hear your story!) can heal a wound like nothing else. It can actually ‘redeem’ a horrible situation and bring light and life to your own life and to others. 

Even if the lesson is as simple as do NOT eat a whole bag of fake Twizzlers… ever!