Did you play with your kids yesterday? True, it was the middle of the week, and you did get home late from work, and there were so many things to do around the house.

It is so easy to get caught up in the little things we feel we ought to do, without thinking about what is more important. If we actually stop to think about what we want in life, we might rearrange our entire schedules.

What comes first playing with your kids, or washing dishes? Playing with your kids, or painting the window sill? Playing with your kids, or finishing an important e-mail?

But it is not just about kids. It is about what you want put of life. It is easy to get distracted by a thousand little things close at hand. But that often blinds us to what really matters. So what does really matter in your life? And are you making time for it, or are you filling your time with a thousand less-important matters?

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
by Dr. Seuss

I love this quote by George Eliot:

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

As we get older, regret starts becoming a more frequent emotion. And although we sometimes regret things we have done, it is more those things we have not done that we regret the most (yes, there have been studies that show this is true).

What might you have been? A scholar? A hero? A concert pianist?

What might you have done?  Gotten a university diploma?  Traveled around the world? Given more to charity?

Whatever it is, it is never too late to be that person, to do what you wish you had done — to live that dream.  That is the purpose of regret.  My mother went back to school and earned a university degree – graduating with my youngest brother!

Go out and live that dream now, because regrets of the past are useless if they don’t propel you to a better future.