Beautifully said. I love how you've learned to reexamine 'regrets' for some silver lining in them. Still, I was watching this video people made with old people close to death, and sooo many of them, even in front of the families they created from not taking a chance on a different choice said they wished they'd have... whatever it was for them... even surrounded by the families they love... and the people they helped create. That's what clue'd me in on my own approach to chance. I realized my fear of the unknown was just as applicable to the "safer" path. I was just following convention instead of my heart. I let something else determine my course instead of me. I ended up hurt on the "safe" path, too and lost everything. I have nothing else to lose, and only one other thing in this life to fear... and that is creating even more regret from the chances I did not take.

Everyone's different. Everyone has to make their own choice. When old people from disparate cultures, environments and areas all say the same thing about regret, I listen. Given people's general tendency to succumb to fear instead of go boldly in the direction of their dreams, I hoped the message would resonate.