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A lot of people are confronted with many things in life, and most of these encounters necessitates the making of a choice. Our lives are full of choices, and the decisions that we undertake when faced with many problems that require a choice determines the quality of our future.

These decisions lead us into a future that we either like or no, and sometimes the mistakes in our decisions result into consequences that are irreversible, affecting our lives indefinitely. We are stuck with the effects of the things we did or did not do, and once we have thought about the circumstances of the choices that led us to the present moment, regret starts to haunt our minds, and disturb our sleep.

Regret is a thing that requires its presence at the end of our decision-making process, maybe because the result of our actions will greatly change how we will live our lives going into the future, and there is no other way to escape. If a decision leads us into an uncertain future, and it bothers us, we know that we have committed a mistake. The uncertainty of what will come next after we have made a mistake is what gravely concerns us.

But to err is human, as a poet once said, and all of us are dealing with a lot of mistakes from the past. These mistakes and the uncertain characteristics of our decisions help us build our character. Often times, when there is no other choice but to confront the consequences of our mistakes straight in the face, we develop the strength that we needed to go on.

When something is unplanned, or when something we did not know presents itself to us as a decision to be made, these situations make our lives even more complicated because our inexperience adds up to the vagueness of the moment. Most of the times, regret beckons once a choice has been made.

There is no perfect life, however, and to regret to have lived without the mistakes we have made in the past is a waste of energy because that is an impossibility. We become the person that we are today because of the choices that we have made in the past. It allows us to grow, and for us to experience growth, pain is sometimes necessary.

To deal with regret is to acknowledge all the lessons it has taught us, and hopefully pledge not to repeat the same instance. Because a mistake, once repeated, becomes another battle to be faced, and will repeat itself until the lesson is learned.

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The opinion is sponsored by Barnes & Noble.