You will regret the things you did not do
more than those you did that went badly

Minh Tan

Other quotes by me

This may not be immediately clear or true, but the thing is, people get over all kinds of things that went badly. And a lot of them, if not most of them, went badly because of things they didn’t do anyway, whether it were things they didn’t do, or things they did instead of things they didn’t do but should have done. Thing is, if you have the chance near the end of your life to reflect on the things you didn’t do and those that went badly, you survived all the things you did that went badly. You’ll only wonder then what might have been had you done certain things and you’ll regret those more. The what might have been scenario is a very powerful one for people, especially dying people, but you definitely don’t have to be dying to appreciate that, I wouldn’t think. Even for those like myself who are good at putting things behind them so as not to have a lot of regrets, the what if scenario is one that just naturally creep into our psyche from time to time and one can’t help but wonder, usually with regret, even if not evidently so or allowed to be so for long periods of time, or leading to a lot of sadness, etc.

But if you don’t buy any of that, take this quote in another way. Don’t wait to do the things you want to do. Get out there and do it as soon as you can, in a feasible manner. Don’t ruin your life over an idealistic idea to do it now, of course. But don’t wait or hesitate forever, either.