Regret is a universal emotion that is felt by us all. The emotion of regret can be very powerful, and if we let it, regret can take over our lives. There are people who are good at managing their regrets, and there are some of us who are not so great at it. For a long time, my feelings of regret dominated my life, particularly during stressful and unhappy times. I would lie awake at night thinking of all the things that I hadn’t done, the mistakes I had made, and the opportunities I had stuffed up.

I would act out scenes in my head, which always began with questions such as: “ What if I had said this? What if I had done this?” These regret role-plays could go on for hours. And, of course, the opportunity for a good night’s sleep was lost. I would wake up tired, with no energy, feeling unhappy. This was not a great way to start the day.

I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets. – D. H. Lawrence

The more tired I felt, the unhappier I was about my life. I finally got to a point in my life where I realized that living my life full of regret was causing me immense unhappiness. I didn’t want to live an unhappy life, so I decided to change it.

This, of course, is easier said than done. Finding a way to manage the negative impact of regret in my life was not going to be achieved in a day, a week, or even a month. I decided that I would take one step at a time rather than rush off and look for ways where I would undergo some form of personal transformation in the hope that my regrets would magically disappear.