…just because things don’t work out as I planned doesn’t mean they didn’t work out as they should.

Regret is not a word I use, but it is something I, like anyone else, feels from time to time. It usually comes in the form of thoughts that begin with “I should have…” but I can never know how things might work out unless I do those things first. So what is there to regret?

What I’m doing may go better and take me farther than I’d hoped, or I may find myself face down in the dirt. I will never know unless I try. The truth is that just because things don’t work out as I planned doesn’t mean they didn’t work out as they should.

Example: I had no way of knowing that the work in ND, which had slowed considerably over the last few years, would be back in full swing after I left. If I had stayed there I could have improved my financial situation to the point that I could be focusing on the Caravan full time right now. And I wouldn’t have spent a year and all the money I didn’t have to break into a new career which didn’t work out at all.

However, if I had stayed, if I hadn’t followed my heart and moved to Alabama, or made those efforts, I would have missed out on the opportunity to love as I’ve never loved before. Nor would I have made lasting friendships with people who truly care about me, nor discovered a place I now call “Home.”  

So when I get those “I should have…” thoughts I simply remind myself “I did!“

No regrets.

Image by Davide Cantelli

Published by J M Greff

J M Greff is the rambling author, trucker philosopher, peace loving hippie, spiritual warrior, backpacking pantheist, wandering minstrel, and poet fool who created A Caravan of One for you. View all posts by J M Greff