Regret

The old cliche is that "hindsight is 20/20." I wish I knew what that meant 10 years ago (padung chee (sound of drum and cymbal to signal a punchline and possible asian name)).

So do you ever look back at your version 1.0 self and think, "What the hell was up with me?" Look at a picture with the crazy hairstyle and funky clothes and wonder, "Why?" And that was like 2 years ago. Now I'm pretty laid-back, but I'm a harsh critic of my younger me. The funny thing is I could right now look back at the 29 year-old Pete (yeah, I just spoke in the third-person) and see the error in my ways. What makes it funny is that the 29 year-old me was looking at the 24 year-old me and doing the same.

So it makes me wonder what the hell am I doing wrong now? What if foresight was 20/20 and the 39 (gasp) year-old Pete could look at me now. What would I think of myself? Maybe I do need a new hairstyle, but I'm not parting it down the middle again (damn you Dawson's Creek!). I'm sure he'd say I need to get back in shape. He'd say I need to save more and spend less. He'd say I need to start doing and stop procastinating. Man, I'm going to be really wise in five years.

So regret... I am a proponent of the theory that you only regret the things you didn't do... to some extent. Honestly, you only have regrets if you're not currently happy. Sure it's easy to look back at situations like relationships and speculate how your life would be different if you made different choices. What if I took that job or transferred to another college? Why didn't I think of Google?

Some things we have control over that decides our fate. No, fate's a bad word (could've just deleted it but I like the dramatic effect). The better word would be happiness. Fate makes it seem like you have no control over your happiness, but honestly your attitude is the only thing you have control of in life.

These things or decisions we make that shape our happiness guide us... or atleast it should. If you spend your time and energy sulking over all of your missed opportunities, you might not notice three awesome boys you have or the loving wife who lets you host poker night once a month (by the way, 50/50 that it's going to be this Friday).

So whatever crossroads we find ourselves in... whatever major decisions we have before us... decide whether it will make you happier and you won't have any regrets. I think I'm wiser right now, without more white hairs.