Regrets

Regrets, I've had a few - so sang Frank Sinatra in My Way, but it turns out he's not the only one if you can believe what you read in a recent survey.

It's been reported that the average Brit has three major lifetime regrets and spends more than five minutes a day reflecting on them.

This made me think a couple of things - really, they spend more than five minutes a day thinking about things they haven't done, or have done, but really wish they hadn't?  And, that's actually quite sad, in the true sense of the word.

It was a nationwide survey of 2000 people, and the top three regrets were not travelling enough, losing touch with old friends, and spending time with the wrong partner.

The cynic in me also thought this must have been commissioned by a holiday company, and true enough it was by Homestay.com (billed as 'an affordable accommodation alternative for independent travellers of all ages').

But while that explains the first regret, losing touch with friends and feeling you've wasted time in relationships aren't travel related - unless, perhaps unluckily, you lost friends whilst also travelling with the wrong partner!

With regards to losing touch with people and relationships, these are things to which we can all relate, particularly as we get older.

The advent of social media has surely helped with this though - I've reconnected with old school friends and work colleagues this way, and we now keep in touch on a far more regular basis than we otherwise would have.

But I think it is very sad to regret time spent in relationships, because, good or bad, we surely learn something from each of them, and the experiences go on to make us who we are today. 

Instead perhaps we should borrow the sentiment from Edith Piaf and let our mantra become 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien', because life's too short to spend time each day looking back and regretting what you've done or not done, isn't it?