Prompt: Would you do it all again?
I never understood the purpose of regret. I suppose you could say that regret is a teacher. You could argue that it prevents you from repeating your mistakes,
but I disagree.
Regret has only made me feel guilt, shame, and sorrow. I could never go back to change my mistakes, so dwelling in regret only left me paralyzed. Only by pushing through regret can I actually learn from my mistakes.
I wouldn’t change that.
No matter how much regret made me wish to turn back time to take another path, I wouldn’t. Despite all the pain, there was also wisdom. There was sorrow, but there was also joy. There were countless mistakes, but I grew from them.
The depth and knowledge, the growth, the complexity, I earned it. My trauma does not define me, but it is part of my experience. I couldn’t have learned it any other way.
If I were given a choice, I would do it all again.
Bringing Mae Flowers 