NationStates Jolt Archive

Just listening to Edith Piaf, so that beautiful song inspired this thread.

Is there anything you regret doing? Something you'd undo if you had the chance? Or don't you regret anything, see everything in its place as either a nice memory or a lesson learned?

Plenty...but why live a boring life?

Plenty...but why live a boring life?

Oh, let's hear the dirty details, then

From 15 to 20, like a thousand things.

When I was twenty I swore to live a life without resentments or regrets, and I have fulfilled that oath. Everything I do it's the best thing I could have done, and that's it. The rest is unneccessary mourning.

Oh, let's hear the dirty details, then

one could be posting on this thread! ;)

Yes, mostly from when I was younger, though.

Just listening to Edith Piaf, so that beautiful song inspired this thread.

Is there anything you regret doing? Something you'd undo if you had the chance? Or don't you regret anything, see everything in its place as either a nice memory or a lesson learned?

The latter. If you are regretting a large portion of your life, you must really hate yourself.

I regret a few things in my life, some decisions I could have made differently, but I don't dwell on them. There's not really much point, it's better to learn from them & move on.

When was the last time you were able to change the past?

The latter. If you are regretting a large portion of your life, you must really hate yourself.


Not quite. I don't regret much about my life, I decided the way I felt it best. There's one thing I would change if I could... but I hope it won't have too much influence on my future life.

As a general rule, I try not to regret things in my past. It doesn't accomplish anything, and is mostly a waste of time and energy I could be expending on other things. So I try to learn from my mistakes, and move on. That said, the one big thing that I do regret is not working harder when I was in college. I did well, but I know I'm capable of doing much better, and I hate that feeling.

Great song, by the way. :)

Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention...

I don't so much regret things as occasionally wonder what other choices would have lead to. I suppose there are things that, looking back, I would have done differently, but everything I have done lead me to who I am now, and I LIKE who I am now.

Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion.[2] At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War of Independence (1956–1962), and the Legion—who had backed a temporary putsch by the French military against the civilian leadership of Algeria—adopted the song when their resistance was broken in April 1961, singing it as they were ordered at gunpoint aboard evacuation vehicles.[3] The song remains popular with the Legion, and is sung when they are on parade.
(The French Foreign Legion was at the time staffed in part by former Waffen-SS personnel. A most interesting take on the unit's interpretation of the sentiment, as they fought and eventually were ordered at gunpoint to give up on the war.)

But I digress.

My one regret so far involves a woman. How typically male. :(

Aside from that, and it is no big deal in the grand scheme of things, I have no reason to regret anything at the moment. I am at a stage in life where things have turned out OK, and the future could bring anything. I think any causes for regret are still in the future.

I avoid regret. It's a waste of energy, and the very least good that comes out of a bad experience is that you learn from it.

Better to regret something you did do than regret something you didn't...


(cookie to anyone who knows where I got that from and a second if they can fill in the rest)

There are a few things I've done that I sometimes wonder about what would have happened if I'd made different choices, and at the time I've regretted decisions I've made, but, when I look back on things, there's nothing I really regret. Everything I've done, all the bad things that have happened, I've learnt from and grown from. It's how you react to things in your life that is the most important thing.

I've got a few, but the fore-most would be the serious fight I had with my best friend a year ago. Some words, and some blows were exchanged. The fault that falls on both of us, though, is that we never reconciled...

Btw, It should be "Non, je ne regrette pas"

Btw, It should be "Non, je ne regrette pas"
The title is fine. "Je ne regrette rien" translates to "I regret nothing" or "I don't regret anything". "Je ne regrette pas" is simply "I don't regret". ;)

I regret missed opportunites, due to my procrastination. Or opportunities I would take now, but didn't then. Hindsight is a dangerous thing.

i pretty much agree with Glitz. things i could regret i've learned from, and maybe i wouldn't be where i am today if i had made different choices.
but regarding my family's decisions, there are a few choice ones i do wish had been different, even if i can't predict where that would leave us/me today

I reget plenty.

But I would change nothing. God has a most perfect plan to use it, so why change it?

I regret more things i didn't do than the things i have done, and in both cases it is way too many.

I don't really regret anything of any particular significance - as most other people have said I try to learn from my mistakes and move on.

However, one thing I do regret, however unimportant it may seem, is not telling my ex-girlfriend that I loved her that last time we parted before she dumped me. *shrug* It may not have changed things, but I just would've felt better if I'd told her.

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which Im certain.

Ive lived a life thats full.
Ive traveled each and evry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, Ive had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!