Regret is a Choice #leadercast

I was reading #Leadercast tweets on Friday and came across this one. Ever since then, "regret" has been rolling around in my head, waiting for me to tease it out.

So right, @TrinaKLee - I tell my daughter boredom is her choice and fail to realize regrets are of my own making/inaction. #leadercast
— James Lamb / tvjames (@tvjames) May 9, 2014

There was suddenly a flash of recognition. That's what I love about events like these - where you can get away from the typical every day and be forced to think differently. And so I've been thinking about regret. What it is, and what it isn't.

Regret is a choice.

I can be sad about things that have happened. Lament, despair, mourn. But regret is different. Regret is active, present tense. Regret is self-incrimination for a failure to act or for a failed act. I regret that I... I regret that I never... I wish I hadn't... If only I had had the courage to...

Armed with this knowledge, we can set about to right that which we regret. We may find ourselves in circumstances of our own making - whether years in the making, or ones that will take years to clean up. But they are ours.

If we can choose to regret, we can choose to change.

etsy.com

I'm choosing to change. I've lived too long feeling bad about circumstances that I wrongly felt were outside my control. They are in my control, I was just using excuses. The man was keeping me down, but I was the man.

Enough of that. Time to live without regrets.