As humans, we sometimes lie down in bed regretting our choices in life: the things we have done and the things we decided not to do. It absolutely makes us feel uncomfortable to think about the what-ifs in life and forces us to imagine that life would be, at least we think, better if it were not for those decisions in life we so confidently label as "wrong."

We are very confident in saying we have made the wrong decisions in our lives and, for this, we castigate ourselves. We hate ourselves for our wrong decisions.

Wrong decisions are a part of our life's choices and the same is true for right decisions. But, is it not that decisions are often neither right nor wrong at the very moment we make them? We make these decisions because we think they are the best at that precise instance we are summoned by the universe and our circumstances to make them. It is only after days, weeks, months or years do we realize that we now think such decisions were wrong.

Some people regret going to law school or graduate school, saying they only wasted their four or five years doing so. Others, on the other hand, regret not going to law school or graduate school, saying life would have been better had it not been for their choice to take a different road.

Some people regret having gone through toxic long-term relationships, saying they should have ended it earlier and should have identified the red flags earlier. They say they probably missed the right connection with the right people for every minute they stayed with their toxic partner. Others, however, do not feel sad or dismayed for what has already happened or what has been done. They probably feel that there have lost or missed opportunities because of staying in such an unfruitful romantic connection but they also understand they absolutely have learned something from it.

We learn from our choices - whether mistakes or successes. Our choices are an aspect of this continuum we call life and we are better off accepting the fact that our choices - especially our errors, flaws, faults and blunders - are a part of who we are.

Your choices form part of the very core of who you are. The road not taken may seem more convenient or more promising but there is no point in feeling regret for that now. What you feel right now is only the view looking back; different from the view coming in at the time when you had to take one of the two or more options presented to you by the universe. And, no one has the license to question you for taking this road.

All the roads and turns you have taken so far have led you to who and where you are right now. The roads you never took are never who you are. - Mark Angelo S. dela Peña