Which is stronger? The regret of doing or the regret of not doing? Two side of the same coin. Both so simple in concept.
If presented with the choice which would you choose? Both feelings stem from the idea that a better outcome could have occurred. But are the lessons any better from doing and regretting? To a point you’ve experienced something, regretted and now have learned from the experience. I’ve even heard some people say that there is nothing that they regret, that everything that they’ve done has shaped who they’ve become. Could the same be said of inaction? That everything you haven’t done, has just as equally shaped you today? I think that’s an idea that hasn’t been explored nearly enough.
I think that the regret of not doing lingers longer. The mind hangs on longer to the what ifs rather than the shouldn’t haves. It’s a lot simpler to know what we shouldn’t have done looking back than knowing what it was that we should have done.
At the end of the day they are both just decisions in a moment of time. A crossroads of sorts. One isn’t any better or worse than the other. A lot of the time you’re not going to know how you’ll feel about a decision until afterwards, sometimes years later. All you can do is base choices on your own principles and information at the time with the fullness of your heart and mind. We are both the creators, and the products of our decisions and the situations we surround ourselves with.
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