The school of “no regrets”

The school of “no regrets” is pervasive, and it teaches that regrets are stupid because we can’t change what has already come to pass. “Regret is sorrow for things that can’t be undone, thus, regret is irrational.” I used to see the sense in this. Now, I don’t. Now, I think it’s a stupid way to live.

Regrets arise from recognition of a mistake; the wrong thing said, the wrong move made, the wrong interpretation embraced. So, to live a life of “No Regret” is to refuse to acknowledge an error. It is to refuse to realise that there was a better way we could’ve done things. It is, in my mind, a rejection of a fundamental human trait: our liability to make errors and to learn from them.

What would I propose in it’s place? Nothing. I wouldn’t condemn any feeling, label it as “bad” and attempt to banish it. Feelings are a response to our existence, and we should be more thankful that the spectrum our feelings fall upon is greatly varied. To limit our feelings and our emotions is to be something other than human. And the world doesn’t need that. It needs more humanity, not less.