A friend of mine decided that his holiday greetings would be a digital photographic video collage illustrating his entire year in 2011 with a series of photos he snapped throughout the year, and play it against the lyrics of his “favorite things.” We saw kids on swings, designer chocolates, the Golden Gate bridge at night, the SF Giants game, and a miniature train set.
As I watched it, I learned more and more about the way he sees his life. I also know him well enough to know that he broke up from a relationship, lost money, and cracked a few ribs recently playing frisbee. If he had regrets about any of these, he did not include them on his photo collage!
How often do we feel regret about our past? Kathryn Schulz presents a segment on Regret in TedTalks. She found that the three top areas people feel the most regret about are (1) Education, (2) Career an,d (3) Romance. Surprisingly, financial regrets account for less than 3% of our regrets — which means you don’t need to worry about the amount of money you are spending during this holiday season, because you won’t grow to regret it!
Do you have a tattoo you wish you never got? Kathryn shares her story about feeling regretful about getting her tattoo, and how she learned the most important lesson about life: The point of life isn’t isn’t to live without any regrets, the point is to not hate ourselves for having them.
Her message: “We need to learn to love the flawed, imperfect things we create, and to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regret doesn’t remind us that we did badly, it reminds us that we can do better.”
No Comments Yet