Why Regret?

I got a notification on my phone this morning... DING!

Oooo, what's this?

Someone had liked a comment I left on a YouTube video.

I didn't realise they had liked MY comment straight away however.

At first I thought they had replied and was reading the first part of the comment in agreement, only to realise it was MY comment and they hadn't replied.. they had liked it.

I had a giggle to myself that I had been agreeing with my past self for a moment there but then I remembered how detailed my comment was and it then reminded me of a lesson I love to teach other content creators.

The lesson is to not think of content creation as "I create content that I post to my audience". It doesn't have to be that narrow minded.

What if you were to leverage the attention of other people's audiences by leaving thoughtful perspectives? Well this was a great example of me doing so. I went into a lot of detail on my perspective firstly because I love to reflect and explore nuance... I am an introvert after all and secondly I love to contribute and make other people's lives more fulfilling with my own understanding that have worked for me.

So this article is my comment recycled into a completely new piece of content that tells the story of my experience and will show you how I perceive the topic of regret. Without further blabbering let's get to the matter at hand!

The dictionary definition of regret is "Feel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that one has done or failed to do)"

So remember this definition as we continue or look back for reference throughout.

The YouTube video I commented on consisted of interviews where a subject on the street was asked about their regrets. Seen as thought I believe that having no regret is the best way to live life, hearing most of these regrets felt pointless to me.

Behind the regrets exist ideas of what "should" have happened instead of accepting what actually happened and learning from it to create a better life. People often wish that those things hadn't happened or use their past circumstances as excuses for why they don't live the life they want to live right now.

When we do this we think of ourselves as victims to circumstances but we are so much more powerful than that so this is some of the reasoning behind the beliefs I have arrived at.

Being aware of my beliefs when watching I then wondered... because I have this view that it is useless to have regrets maybe I have some repressed ones so I did some investigating.

Going back to the definition I will phrase them in a way that works with the description of regret because simply using the word alone is too vague.

I felt disappointed when I left a band I was in a few years back. I don't have any desire to bring the band back together now but at the time it was a difficult thing to accept and let go of. I rarely think about it because I live in the moment and follow my unique desires.

I feel sadness thinking about the past Andy who thought he couldn't speak with confidence when delivering presentations. He felt pressured into not breaking expectations of himself and others. He put himself in a prison that no one wanted him to put himself in but he thought they did. He was scared of big reactions because he has always been sensitive.

What he didn't know was that he could embrace his sensitivity fully, surrender to it and still remain non-reactive if he wanted to... or even be reactive and acceptant of that. He often heard people say he was TOO sensitive so would pretend he wasn't and try and hide it instead of fully accepting it as a beautiful part of him.

I stayed with a girlfriend after I had found out I had been cheated on. I felt regret for this one for sure but now I am grateful for the lesson. It taught me to follow intuition and not stay in a relationship out of fear of being alone or an assumption that I am not valuable enough to find someone else. Now I know I am awesome and will always find people just as brilliant. I have been with my current girlfriend for almost 8 years who is amazing and so in sync with me and I am very grateful for that too.

All these situations could be classed as regrets but to me they are something different. The past you is not you. That is a fiction. A persona. Simply just a concept. What you are is much more than that and in this moment you are a completely different person from who you were in any past moment. You ARE the moment and you place your power into ideas and concepts to play the game. Many people think they are the character but that's just a tool.

We are all fluid beings and we are all made up of energy. We are consciousness itself and don't have to believe the idea of duality. There is no separation.

When we convince ourselves we are separate it's like children playing together and giving each other a character to play. I'll be the wizard and you can be the princess. That's what we're all doing so we don't have to take the character so seriously. We CAN but we don't HAVE to. Big difference.

We're here to play and explore, connect with others and enjoy the play but there's much more going on outside of this game.

I hope you enjoyed my perspective!

Another lesson to learn from this is that leaving these perspectives on other people's content and finding them later is not just awesome to experience and remember you did that but also great inspiration to create more content for YOUR followers.

Has this article inspired you? Let me know below and let's start a conversation.

Maybe you hated it and were offended. Let me know that too. I accept all engagement.