Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity

The Fear of Regret

After speaking to a friend, we talked about our past and asked ourselves what if? My conclusion is:
Life is all about taking chances. That leap of faith into the unknown. It terrifies us all, but where will we ever go in life if we don’t take a chance. The hardest part is finding a balance, knowing when to take the chance and when to take a step back. Knowing when to keep pushing forward in persistence versus when to just let go. It’s a balance of head and heart, of thoughts and feelings, of doing what’s “right” or doing what you “want/need” to do. It’s about not taking a chance and living with the regret that you’ll never know what might have been. Or taking the chance, risking it all, truly living life, and then accepting the often difficult path where that chance may lead.

When I look back on my own life, I see many choices that some may say were poor decisions. I do not regret a single one of those decisions. They have all taught me lessons, guided me along this journey to where I now stand. And without making those choices, without taking those chances, my life would be consumed by too many “what if’s”. The only regrets I have are the times I didn’t take a chance, the times I felt something and turned my back on those feelings, the times I fought all instinct and never took that leap of faith. It is those times, and those times only, that I regret.

Can you live with the knowledge that you have taken a chance, regardless of its consequences? Or can you live the rest of your life wondering “what if”? Can you live without taking that chance?