The first thing you need to learn about life, is that it is all about choices. When I think about choices I think of a famous poem by Robert Frost.
When it comes down to it, every single decision you make in life is crucial. There isn't a choice that you make that won't affect the way you live. This healthy apple or this chocolate bar; minor decisions, but decisions nonetheless. The faster you realize in life that every thing you decide is important, the easier it will become. I'm not saying always make the right decision. Hey, half the bad decisions I've made have taught me more than living by the book word for word. It's mistakes that are the choices that build us up or tear us down. It's how we react to them. Do we build up from this, or continue on down? Learning and living, and living to learn, there has to be a balance.
Right now, you're going over almost every decision you've made this week, or possibly reminiscing some choices you wish you could change. That my friend, is regret. Choices can lead to regret, but even bad decisions can teach you and lead you from regret. Some people have to make a mistake, see/feel the consequences first hand, to realize they've chosen wrong. That is okay. What you're shooting for in the end, is making the decisions that will make all the difference in your life. Like the poem states, you're going to wish you would've taken the other path just to know what it could be, that is temptation. By choosing one career, one boy/girl over the other, are examples of decisions that would affect your whole life drastically.
The point is, make the decision that would be right for you in the long run. Hey, if you realize it was the wrong one, be brave enough to backtrack and choose wisely the next time. Don't live with the choices you've made if you don't like them. That's the thing about choices, you can usually switch or go back. However, you're not always going to have that option. It's good to keep your window open but you need to know when to shut it. You need to know when to choose one path over the other. Whether it be the one paved for you; or the one less traveled by. Regret has a way of crawling up your backbone and living there if you don't be smart, or not smart. In the heat of the moment of situations, you won't see how big of a deal something is, that's why it's important to look at things in an ariel perspective.
Example 1:
Choosing the person you're going to spend the rest of your life with is a big decision. This person should be your best friend, secret keeper, soul mate. Don't settle for less than that.
Example 2:
When choosing a career, they say to choose a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life. Well, we all pretty much know that's not that easy. You have to start somewhere but making the right choices to lead you close to where you wanna be, is important.
Example 3:
Grudges! It's a choice. You choose whether or not to hold a grudge. Forgiveness is hard, it's a process. Choose to be happy. Whether that means forgiving and placing that person/whatever is is out of your life and moving on or slowly giving whatever it was a second chance. Hope is important. Courage to do these things is also important.
You must make a choice to take a chance in life or nothing will ever change.