Never Regret!

'Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience' - One of my friends uses this quote as a signature in all emails. I usually put little effort thinking about such quotes but this one caught my attention. In retrospect, I have unknowingly tried to face many circumstances in my life by this rather profound 'rule'. I want to pen down the difficulties I faced in abiding this rule and the outcomes of choosing to do so.

Simply, one should never be deterred by the bad experiences of the past nor one should solely rely on the previous success-especially, in the present, when u are required to make a crucial decision about the future. One has to realize that your past need not dictate what you can or cannot do in the future. Life presents limitless opportunities and the way in which you handle these choices will eventually shape your future - regardless of how you have led your life until then.

When I graduated from high school (college in India) with a major in sciences, I was confident that I will be successful as an engineer or a doctor. I thought so only because I had excelled in my academics. Deep inside, I probably liked archeology much more than anything else. Unfortunately, the most lucrative careers were in engineering or medicine. Relying on my 'previous' academic success and the opportunity of a decent career, I chose to major in biology in my undergrad and then went on to graduate school in the same field. Graduate study is a long time in one's life and halfway through my grad school, it struck me that my marriage with science was on shaky grounds. Only then, I understood that my previous academic sucess and the choices that I made have taken me on a path that seemed to end in a steep drop off a cliff. I wanted to pursue a different path, one that would take me away from the cliff and along the sunny beaches. The difficult part here was first to convince myself that I had no regret of spending about one fourth of my life pursuing a dream which was soon not going to realized. Moreover, I had to find a new path which was going to take me to my destination. As I said earlier, Life presents limitless opportunities; and I have now made one such choice to move away from graduate school to pursue a career in health science. To sum up, success in the past has not always led me to realize my dream. The experiences were sweet and the journey wonderful. Previous success has mainly helped me shape my thoughts about the things that are definitely not meant to be.

On the other hand, bad experiences have helped me understand myself and the dynamics of humanity better. I think of myself as a person who will do everything possible to help somebody who is close to me. And on multiple occassions, I have indulged in things that have seriously affected my day to day life. In the end however, making little compromises in my own life to better another being has left me feeling betrayed of my trust and often left a scar on my personality. After a period of remorse and reticence, I have gone back to being the same person I was before. The difficult part in handling bitter circumstances is very similar to facing success. One has to get over the euphoria of success or the dejection of a failure in deciding how to act in the future. I hope bitter experiences have not deterred me from looking at life in a negative way.

Definitely, I have learnt the ways in which things are meant to be from such setbacks in life.

Every new day is the beginning of the rest of my life. My success and failures are leading me to understand how to take life as it comes. I do not regret the life I have led nor the tough lessons I have learnt. I only hope that I make the best of all the available choices and realize my dream.