Regret
By: Gunanicaa Arun
Tags: Student Life, Regret, Emotions, Positive Attitude, Life

Image Credits: Stunning Silhouette

Ever sat there and thought about how things would have been better if you had decided to choose the other option? “I shouldn’t have done that.” or “I should have listened to others.” or simply “I just wish things were better.”

Regret. At every point in our lives, there’s always something we regret. From “I should have bought that chocolate!” to “I should have taken care of my health.”, regretting something has always been a part of us. Here’s a little back story.

I’m sure each one of us would have had an instance in our childhood that made us choose what we want to do with life. For some, it might be Iron man, for some Power Rangers, or even Barbie. For me, it was a Tamil movie I saw where the hero was a doctor and he was “the hope” for everyone’s lives. As cliché as it might sound, that’s when I decided I will become a doctor and save lives. Years passed by and finally, the d-day had arrived, I had to choose which side I was gonna take, JEE? or NEET? Though choosing NEET literally meant shifting continents for me, the decision was quite easy, as I had already decided I was gonna become a doctor. NEET it was.

Two years of hard work, studying day and night (or at least that’s what I say XD), tuitions during weekends, extra classes, extra tests and whatnot! Though it might sound all hectic, it was my favourite two years of my life, be it my school, my friends, my teachers, basically everything! The two years passed by quicker than I felt, and then came the board exams, the so called ‘life-deciding exams’. Right after my math exam, the word “Corona’’ fell into my ears. Little did I know what a pandemic would be like, I thought this wouldn’t affect me in any way cause I’ll have to sit and study for NEET.

Days passed and there was not a single day without me thinking “What do I actually want to do?”. I started to rethink my decision of becoming a doctor. And adding fuel to the fire, time and again the NEET exam kept getting postponed. To be very frank, I lost my patience, started thinking of other options. One day I wanted to be a lawyer, the next day I wanted to do management studies, and a few days later I wanted to study Chemistry and get into research. Time flew and I had no clear picture of what I wanted to do. Moreover, it was too late to choose anything and work for it. Now all I did was regret. Regretted that I chose to be a doctor, regretted that I didn’t know what I wanted, regretted that I made a wrong decision. After all the confusion, I finally decided I’ll go to the college I get with my board exam marks and thankfully I got into a good engineering college.

Of course, I wasn’t satisfied with what had happened, because oh well, I did have a lot of regrets. But thanks to my teacher who posted a quote one day which completely changed my thoughts…

“N ever regret anything, because at one time it was exactly what you wanted”, Marilyn Monroe

It’s probably a quote many have come across, but it was my first time reading it back then. I still remember how much I smiled while reading it. That’s when I realized it’s okay if a decision you took made you feel unhappy, it’s okay to think the decision you took was wrong. All that matters is what you learn from it; accept your mistakes and move on. I did want to become a doctor once but now I am doing my bachelors in Information Technology, two completely opposite fields. Nevertheless, I am really happy with what I am doing right now, and moreover I am glad that I was able to identify my mistake and learn from it.

It’s really is a nice feeling to be grateful for what you have and for what you’ve learnt rather than regretting the past. And remember, it’s the ups and downs that have made you into what you are. Like I always say, no more regrets, it will all be fine, just smile and the world smiles with you!

Oh but, it’s alright if you regret missing out on food ;)