A fellow alumnus from my Business School, about the same age as I am now, sent this ezine article to all his classmates via our Alumni Group Mail. Some of my classmates have already departed this world, and some of us have had close calls, all well before receiving this group mail. None of us are getting any younger and so this kind of group mail is not something out of the ordinary.
I was intrigued enough to reflect on the five regrets that the author writes about and felt that I should share my conclusions with my readers. Perhaps it will inspire them also to reflect on them.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I honestly believe that I have lived a life true to myself, as I am sure that all of us have. There have been occasions when I regretted some aspects of it, but overall, I have not lived the life that others expected of me, for the better or for the worse.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
I hardly worked. Where is the question of working so hard?
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
I consider this to be a major weakness in me. I simply cannot keep my feelings to myself. I express them, often, much to the discomfort of hapless listeners/readers.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
This post is proof enough that I am in touch with my friends. Besides fellow alumni, there are many other friends with who, I have never lost touch since boyhood and youth. I have also continued making new friends on and offline, as life unfolds and some of the relationships are flourishing and promise to be lifelong ones.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
If I get any happier, some other palliative care giver will soon write another ezine article like this about the freak that s/he came across in her/his experience.
