Musings on regret

I've been going through old photo albums lately trying to rescue precious memories from those evil magnetic albums that turn pictures into poo after sitting in them for too long.  While doing this, I've been coming across pictures of my dad, which, in turn gets me thinking about him.  Something that my dad would often talk about was regret, and how I should live my life so that I regret nothing.  He always said how he didn't want to be on his death bed racked with regret, and wanted to die knowing he lived the life he wanted to live.  Obviously there were things he did regret, as I don't think there are many people who can live their lives regret free, but I'd like to think that he died knowing that he achieved his personal goal fairly well.  

Lucille Ball apparently once said, "I'd rather regret the things that I have done than the things that I have not." And I have to say this is closer to how I feel.  When I think back on the things I've done in my life, I've begun to realize that there isn't a whole bunch I've done that I have truly regretted.  In fact the things that I have regretted doing are things that have happened years in the past and not in my recent history.  However, there are things I've regretted not doing - people and relationships that have slipped through my fingers, missed opportunities, not indulging in that ice cream cone the other day ;) - and those to me are a larger crime.  The fact that there are things left undone or opportunities that I missed are a bigger concern to me, because it means a missed experience...a different life. 

Experiences are what make us who we are.  I think most times if we make the jump to do something, we'll find in the end that we will have no regret, but if we let the thing pass us by, we may end up regretting not taking that opportunity.  Living life in fear of the unknown is no way to live.  Grasping life and running with the wind in your hair is a infinitely more exciting.   

P.S.  It seems like I'm a roll with blog posts lately.  One about every 7 days or so.  Woot!