no regrets (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Regrets, I’ve had a few 
But then again, too few to mention 
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption 
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the byway 
And more, much more than this, I did it my way

So sang Frank Sinatra in his signature song “My Way.” This was one of my father’s favorite songs, by one of his (and my) favorite singers. And I’d like to believe that these are the lines that defined how Daddy lived. It has been seven years since my father passed away and I often think of  many of the lessons he taught my sister and me. One of those lessons was to live without regrets. Because of Daddy’s examples, I decided many years ago that I would do my best to not live life with any regrets.

Living without regrets involves making good decisions and sticking to them. Do we always make good decisions? No. Do poor decisions lead to negative consequences that make us wish we had made a better decision in the first place? Yes. Well, isn’t that regret? Yes. However, in my opinion, living without regret is not about never making a mistake. It’s about correcting our mistakes so that we don’t have to be burdened with regrets. Some people are paralyzed with regrets and fail to move on.

None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes, poor choices, and bad decisions. But there’s no need to LIVE with regrets. Let your regrets be temporary and take corrective action to free yourself from living in past missteps and mistakes.

Thanks Daddy!

(31WriteNow Challenge Day 24)