The Value of Regret

When you dare to examine your past mistakes through a vulnerable lens, you clarify your priorities and attune yourself to your deeper values.

Melancholy woman (1902), Pablo Picasso

I used to be firmly anti-regret. I prided myself on having few regrets and refusing to fixate on the ones I had. “Sure, that was a mistake,” I’d say about a bad breakup or impulsive decision to quit a good job, “but it led to so many new experiences I wouldn’t have had otherwise!”

(COULD I HAVE BEEN MORE INSUFFERABL…