Exercise: Five Things You Regret

In Anna Lyons and Louise Winter’s book “We All Know How This Ends” they include a whole section on regret. As an exercise, they encourage us to write down five things that we regret. And then, “while you can, while there’s time, change that list of five regrets into something else. Say the sorry you need to say. Acknowledge the hurt you caused. Ask the girl out. Book a flight to Paris.”

Something you might like to know is that on your deathbed you’re far more likely to regret the things you didn’t do than the things you did. I’ve heard this reiterated many times in books and interviews. Even when they took a chance and made a mistake, people don’t regret those mistakes or wish they could unmake them.

You should also know that while regrets are deeply personal and individual, they do find their way into common threads. Here are the top four from my personal experience on this blog:

·         I spent too much time and energy worrying about things that really didn’t matter

·         I should have taken more risks, been braver, followed my dreams

·         I wish I had appreciated every single moment and spent more time with the people I loved

·         I wish I had made more time for play

So write down your five regrets. Or ten. Or one. Then do something about them. Write a letter, even if you can’t send it. Take the trip, the job, the chance. Arm yourself with the knowledge that you’ll probably only regret the risks you didn’t take, the things you didn’t say, and the joy you didn’t find. There’s no point waiting. None of us know how much time we have left.