Regrets

Before describing a day in the life of CAMP CTK, I think I have to talk about the gift of children and youth in my life as well as the emotion of regret in my podcast for this week.

I have started Daniel Pink’s book The Power of Regret and have been thinking about how regret about the past can often keep us from living into the future fully.  It is popular to quote the French singer Edith Piaf and say “Non, je ne regrette rien” or, In English, “No, I regret nothing….I have no regrets.”  Pink believes that regret is an important human emotion that should be recognized in every life and never denied.

The premise of Pink’s book is that it is important to look back on our regrets, learn from them, and make choices for our future informed by them.  Folks have asked me:  “Do you wish you had gone to South Africa sooner?” And “Do you wish you had stayed? Do you have regrets about coming back to America?”  Part of working on writing about my experiences leading up to the choice to go to South Africa, my experiences in South Africa and my experiences since coming back to America help me to understand my life more fully.  As I examine my regrets over my life, I see that I have learned from them and often made different choices.

What I know for sure: my deepest regrets have led to my greatest joys. Take a listen on my podcast this week by clicking on the podcast link at the top of the home page.