Do You Suffer from Phantom Regret?

Discussion in Off Topic Discussion & General Questions started by mythman • Oct 12, 2014.

  1. mythman

    mythmanActive Member

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    That is 'wishing you had done something which you could not possibly do.'

    For example---I wish I had been raised on a farm. I would've experienced the hard, dirty labor of farm-life; hard, dirty labor that no one would EVER 'choose' to get into, and which I therefore never will experience.

    Can you think of any Phantom Regrets?
     
  2. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    I think that everyone has regrets. I don't know why you would call them phantom regrets. To me they are just regular old regrets. I don't regret anything yet. But I am only twenty-four-years old, and I will probably have some regrets when i get a little older. I have a feeling they may be tied to money and career. Still, they haven't arrived yet.
     
  3. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    I have all kinds or regrets. I regret things I did. I regret things I didn't do. I sometimes even regret things over which I have no control.
    I'm constantly learning things through trial and error, and there are things I regret not knowing 6 months ago.
    But we can't go back and correct things, all we can do is try not to screw up again in the same way.
     
  4. Parker

    ParkerWell-Known Member

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    I have lots of regrets. I'm making an effort to pursue my goals and dreams no matter the challenges. I don't want to keep adding to my list of regrets. When I leave the planet, I want my regrets to be overshadowed by accomplishments, courage, creativity, etc.
     
  5. gmckee1985

    gmckee1985Active Member

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    No, I'm not the type of person who has a lot of regrets. I think everything has a purpose in this life. And my life has taken the path it was designed to take by God. Having regrets just makes people bitter and miserable. That's not the kind of life I want to have.
     
  6. Nickchick

    NickchickWell-Known Member

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    I feel like I could write a novel on all my regrets. I am trying to undo them by making things better for myself but the past just keeps haunting me. I feel like I'll never have a future because of them.
     
  7. obliviousme

    obliviousmeActive Member

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    I have a whole bunch of regrets. I think we all do? At some point in our lives, we all have to decide and choose and sometimes we choose the thing we eventually regret for the rest of our lives. I've decided i won't dwell on regrets though because there's really nothing we can do about it. So just accept your mistake and move on. :p
     
  8. JosieP

    JosiePWell-Known Member

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    I see what you're saying.. things that never happened, that you wish had? Not things that did happen or choices you regret making. I wish all the time I had been raised by different people. I wasn't horribly abused or anything, but I was definitely focused on how I was being raised vs life and doing something with myself. I also regret government LOL.
     
  9. Onionman

    OnionmanActive Member

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    We all have them at one time or another. Anyone that says they haven't must be living a pretty perfect life! But I also think that if I had gone down a certain path, a lot of the things that are great about my life now wouldn't exist. There are too many untended consequences of what the path might have looked like.
     
  10. DreekLass

    DreekLassWell-Known Member

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    I regret not working out enough to acquire defined abdominal muscles when I was younger. I also regret not continuing on with my sprinting. I was the fastest runner on both of my secondary and primary schools. Nobody could touch me, and if I had continued on with my running, I'd probably be a lot more healthy and grounded in my body. Plus, my legs probably wouldn't be so weak now.

    I also regret government :)
     
  11. Sunshine

    SunshineActive Member

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    I suppose a "phantom regret" would be not being born into a certain nationality, so I could experience a different type of upbringing then I had. Also I suppose I would regret not being raised in a family with more money, so that I could have participated in more expensive extracurricular activities growing up, such as tennis or rowing. A final phantom regret would be not having a larger family and family network.
     
  12. morgoodie

    morgoodieActive Member

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    I do not have many regrets but sometimes, I do wish I would have done some things in my life that I chose not to do. But we cannot change the past and can only move forward. So it is best if we do not dwell on what we cannot change and focus on what we can. I think regrets just get in our way of moving towards our future and holds us back from doing certain things.