Blogpost 8: No Regrets

Life is so precious. Life can change in a blink of an eye. One minute you’re on top and then the next moment you’re on the bottom thinking can things get any worse? When moments in life like that occur you shouldn't give up because the next day you’re going to wake up and regret it.

I saw an article entitled "Living in the No Regrets Zone” by Caroline Adams Miller. She said regrets are defined as unfulfilled intentions or goals that a person wishes they had the courage or time to pursue at a previous time in their life.  It’s natural for everyone to experience regrets, and these regrets often begin to build during the college years over passed-up educational opportunities. There are many connections on how regrets fit with the science of Positive Psychology, including Ryff’s work about how one’s well-being is increased when progress is made toward meaningful, challenging goals in the present, and that are correlated with one’s best possible future self. It has also been found that attained and unattained goals are key predictors of rumination, which is an indication of psychological adjustment. Regrets carry a certain type of energy that can be used in positive or negative ways, and that will impact your well-being. In fact, researchers have found that the incidence and intensity of regretful ruminations are minimized through the active pursuit of goals and that greater well-being can occur through a carefully structured plan of daily goal pursuit that is married to pursuit of meaningful life goals.

"If you are living with regrets today about roads not taken, old decisions made in haste, or things you have longed to attempt but been afraid to try, declare this to be your “No Regrets Zone” year. Take a risk — try it out. And take another risk — live today without regrets," Caroline said.

Life is full of great things that you should never miss out. Live life to the fullest and embrace the challenges you face with no regret because in the end it’s all worth it. We tend to focus more on what might go wrong, what we might lose or sacrifice when taking risks. They are pointing us to a brighter future that we can only create when we commit to taking bolder, more decisive and courageous actions.

Another good article I've read entitled "No Regrets: Why 'Letting Go' May Be Key to Happy Aging" by Charles Q. Choi. He said rain scans can now reveal that living a life without regrets may be one key to aging well. The brain scans revealed that activity in a brain region called the ventral striatum, which is linked with feeling regret and also addiction, and in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is involved in regulating emotions, was similar between the young adults and the depressed older adults. In contrast, the healthy older adults showed different patterns in brain activity that suggested they experienced less regret and regulated their emotions more effectively. They suggest that healthy older adults may employ helpful mental strategies to avoid regret, such as reminding themselves that the results of the game were up to chance. In contrast, depressed older adults may blame themselves for the outcome. It might be possible to train people to use these mental strategies to help preserve their emotional health in old age.

"Given that unsuccessfully aged people demonstrated a more youth-like behavior, it seems to be essential for our emotional well-being to adapt to changing life demands when we are older that is, to not look back in anger and to focus on the positive," Charles said.

I have always heard people say, “Don’t have any regrets.” For some reason I believed it was true. We all do things in life that we regret. We also do things in life that make us proud of the people that we are. Still, there are things in life that we hope that someday be able to do. All of these things make up who we are and how we've come to be ourselves.