Are you happy with the decisions you've made in your life?

We've all been at a crossroads at certain points in our lives where we've had to make one or more life-altering decisions.

Here are just a few examples:

Deciding whether to take one job or another
Deciding whether to ask out/date one person or another
Deciding whether to have kids
Deciding whether to buy a house and choosing among alternatives
Deciding whether to get married or divorced
Deciding whether to end an old friendship
And so on...

Many times, the decision is forced upon us because of circumstances beyond our control. For example, if we're laid off, we have no choice but to jump back into the job market and look for work. That, of course, assumes that nothing fortuitous happens in the interim -- like winning the lottery!)

Then again, many of us make decisions that we later realize were poorly planned out -- if at all. I have friends who wound up having kids at a younger age than they'd anticipated. This in turn has put a serious financial strain on their relationship or marriage and has prevented them from pursuing other goals, like furthering their education.

As human beings, we are good at adapting to life circumstances -- rolling with the punches, so to speak. But that doesn't change the fact that if given the chance to go back in time, we would likely make different choices.

Hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it? Imagine if we had a crystal ball to guide us in our decision making.

It's hard to imagine a world, though, where everyone could make optimal decisions. If we never screwed up, how would we learn from experience?

I'm the kind of person who carefully weighs his options before committing to anything. It has worked in the sense that I taking the safe route keeps me out of trouble. But even I have made a couple of decisions I've come to regret.

None of us are perfect. We've all made good choices as well as bad ones. As the saying goes: "Life is not about what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you." As long as we learn from our mistakes and use our experience to inform our future decisions, we should be fine.

Are there any decisions you've made that you've later regretted?

Comments

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