What Will You Regret?

Some thoughts on a Sunday morning...

I was reading a post on the Daily Digi titled "A Question That Might Change Your Week." The question was "What will you regret not doing?" The gist of the article: in our busy lives, too often we ask ourselves: What do we need to do today? Instead, we need to ask the opposite and go do it.

However, this is a question that I ask continuously regarding my life. It's one of the main things that pushes me to do something instead of trying to take the easy road. You know what I mean - excuses that I give myself: "I'm too tired." or "I can do it later."

But is that true? You can't always do something later. For example, I was in New York City in June 2000 to work on a tradeshow. I had one weekend day to myself to see some sights, so I jumped on a tour bus just to get a sampling of the city and see a lot of the famous things in The Big Apple. As you can imagine, the day was pretty darn busy, and by 4 pm, I was getting tired after spending my day hopping on and off the bus to check out everything. That was about the time we neared the World Trade Center. I decided to stay on the bus so I could continue on and get a few more sights in, telling myself "It will be there later. After all, the World Trade Center has been around for years." The bus dropped off a few tourists and proceeded with the tour.

Fast-forward to September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center collapsed from a terrorist act and is no more. While I grieved along with the rest of the nation, I thought back to my decision from the previous year and how I chose not to tour the World Trade Center simply because I was tired. And I regretted my action, despite the fact I did get to see other sights in New York City.

Of course, there's nothing I can do to turn back the clock. Even though a memorial now stands on the site where the World Trade Center once resided, it won't be the same building I viewed countless times on TV shows and vowed I would someday see.

Sure, I have other things I regret I didn't do. But this is definitely one thing that I can't go back and change. I do stop a lot more now when I'm "too busy" to do something and look at the Lego creation my toddler wants to show me or look at the scenery instead of just driving past.

So as you go through your life...your week...your day, stop to think about what meaningful thing you turn away or decide to forego, no matter how little it is. It might be a moment you won't have again.