Yesterday, I watched an interview with Morgan Freeman. He is a truly wonderful actor and I've always admired his work. The interviewer asked him a very thought-provoking question. He summoned him to project himself on his deathbed and asked him if he would have any regrets. Morgan Freeman answered that his life was not over yet and so that he could not foresee how he would feel at that particular moment.
It made me think of my own life and how I would want to feel on my deathbed.
Life is short. I know that. Yet, fighting with a fellow-driver on a corner street, getting into an argument with my daughter about what she’s going to wear to school, getting into a heavy discussion with someone who has a different belief than mine, worrying about yesterday, today and tomorrow are all things I regularly do. But what purpose?
If life is so short, why not spend it being happy, kind, generous, and in harmony with others. Why make room for negative feelings and thoughts? They'll have no impact on the result of your life (we will all die eventually no matter what). They’ll only have an impact on your journey. One of my colleagues stayed in a fight with her brother for 4 years. They made up, but so much time and energy was wasted fueling the fire of anger. In the end, there was no winner, only lost time!
I've made decisions in my life that made sense at the time but maybe don't make sense anymore. I don't think it's possible to go through life without taking some wrong turns. But whatever decisions I’ve made, I stand by. I know they were based on how I felt at that particular moment. I understand that no decision is made in vain and that I've learned from all my mistakes. But what about now? And what about the future?
I don't want to have any regrets. So, in order to fully experience life and be proud of my accomplishments, I need to make sure I make appropriate choices in regards to my social and professional involvements as well as my relationships.
I know it's impossible to live a life of only meaningful and positive experiences; there are many unpredictable and unexpected situations that occur in everyone's life. But regret doesn't come from what you undergo in terms of life circumstances, it comes from the decisions you make despite your circumstances.
“I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.”
Brittany Renée
“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.”
Mercedes Lackey
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