I regret nothing.

Remember that one time you stayed too long, you had one too many drinks, you thought jumping that fence would look awesome. Nobody? Just me? Really? FYI, It did look awesome!

We all had that instantaneous moment of regret. The moment you decided to do something and you immediately felt regret. Most of the times this is because the things we were about, and we did, do were embarrassing. I would say in those cases it isn’t really regret, it is more like just plain embarrassment. However, spending your last buck on something silly instead of the bus fare and then you have to walk home for the next two hours, that is genuine regret.

We all had moments of regret when we were children as well, when you did something and got sent to a corner. Did that only happen to me? Aw man. Anyway, as you were, or weren’t, standing in the corner pondering about what you did wrong and why you should feel regret and why you should apologize, you realized that ‘regretting’ something doesn’t necessarily mean that you truly regret your actions. Just look at politicians, “I am sorry your house got burned down, I will do everything in my might and power to…”, their period of regret always lasts around five minutes. First comes the sorry phase, where they say they are sorry in general and then just shift the blame onto someone else. Not my fault, not my problem, not my concern.

We should all be wary about our actions. And not run into a field of pigeons wearing a bread-shirt. Although, a group of people would be allowed to play with scissors next to a pool, filled with sharks. Of course I mean all the Yolo-ists. I hereby declare I would take full responsibility for them, without any remorse.

Sometimes, though, when you do something you feel a very uncomfortable feeling, something that is eating you from the inside. Yup, that is the feeling of remorse. Even though you didn’t do anything bad, per se, but you still feel like you have to make up for it. And the little bastard won’ go away that easily. You have to make peace with the little bugger. Sometimes it can literally eat you up, you can’t sleep for nights. But sometimes it is really hard to apologize. Pride is an interesting inhibitor and it will not let you amend so easily.

Life would be easier without regrets, that goes without saying. But, without making mistakes and making decisions that are ‘bad’, you just can’t learn. Just because you chose left instead of right doesn’t necessarily mean you did something wrong. You just learned a valuable lesson, and next time you WILL remember it. Basically, regret is just a reminder for you to reflect upon what you have done.

I can proudly say that so far, I regret nothing.

By Dejan Vicai