No regrets.
A woman named Connie wrote to me recently.
She receives my newsletter and something I wrote — about spending less time online — resonated with her and she wanted to say “thanks.”
In her email, Connie told me about some recent choices that she has made.
Choices like spending less time tethered to a digital screen and spending more time savoring everyday life with her daughter.
She described how she & her daughter have been spending the summertime.
She wrote:
Instead of being on the computer, we browsed books at the library.
Instead of sticking to a blogging schedule, we chased fireflies.
Instead of marketing, we made s’mores.
Instead of spending my evening taking phone calls, we took twice as long to cook a meal so she could help me make it.I regret nothing.
Those final three words — “I regret nothing” — gripped me by the heart.
I asked Connie if I could share a snippet of her email and she graciously said, “Yes.”
Connie’s email reminded me to re-evaluate how I spend my time each day and ask myself, “Am I setting myself up for satisfaction or regret?”
Work is wonderful. Making money is important. The Internet is amazing. Yes, yes and yes.
But it’s important to question how much time we pour into work things / money things / Internet-ish things and really ask, “Do I need to be spending THAT much time doing that? Every day? Really? How come? Who says?” and “What if I spent some of my life minutes doing something else instead?”
Like Connie, I want to be able to confidently say “I regret nothing” at the end of each day — and certainly at the end of my life.
(Or at least, “I regret almost nothing — except for that phase in my late teens when I thought wearing over-sized jeans that sank below my butt was really hip and cool. That part, maybe, I could have re-considered.”)
“What can I choose — [today / this season / this year] — that will carry me towards maximum satisfaction and minimal regret?”
That is a beautiful question.
Connie knows her answer.
What is yours?