Weekend Engagement - Living Each Day As Though It Is The Last?

If you were dead, what would you regret not doing in your life? Explain.

I never think one should have any regrets in life, but putting in perspective that I am only in my late 30s, there's still a lot of stuff that I would like to do or experience in my life.

I always hear people say we should live each day as though it is the last. But realistically, can we really do that? Because if I knew today was my last day, I would not go to work since I won't be around the next day. I would probably be spending time with my loved ones and probably try to use up as much money in my savings as possible since I won't get to spend after today. And if I were to do all of these, what happens if I were to wake up tomorrow? I probably would be terminated from my job and be jobless, and I don't have much money for my daily expenses because I have splurged most of them the day before. So while the spirit of "living each day to the fullest" sounds good, life somehow has to be a balance across different aspects.

And hence, back to the question, I think the stuff I would regret not doing would be those I haven't gotten the chance to do but it's probably lined up in the coming years.

I would "regret" not having more time for myself.

Over the years, I have been spending more time solo, especially after I moved out from my parents. I have learnt to be more independent and learnt to embrace spending time with myself and finding this inner peace. Most people have the perception that people like me are probably "lonely" and "lack friends" but actually, I am very happy being with myself. Haha. As to how I would put this practice, I think I will probably need improve on my time management and at some point in my life, I might slow down in my work/career and opt for a more slower pace of work life and that would free up more time.

I would "regret" not visiting more parts of the world.

Travelling is an activity that many people enjoy and we all travel for different purposes. Some do it for sightseeing, some do it for the food, some do it for the theme parks, and the list goes on. I did a personal count, I have actually visited 20 countries in the world so far. While it's not a KPI in itself, because within 1 country, there could be many different cities to explore too, but what I want to say is that the world is so big and there are still many parts that I haven't seen or experienced. As to how I would "resolve this regret", I think it's something that's always work in progress. Travelling requires money and I need a job to sustain the trips, and there's a limit how many places I could visit given the constraints of annual vacation leave as well. And I did spend 2.5 weeks in Europe earlier this year!

All in all, I think we try not to have regrets in our lives. While life is short and can be unpredictable, I don't subscribe to the thinking that we should live each day as though it will be the last. We probably need to find our equilibrium in our life commitments and our personal aspirations. Finally, sharing a photo I took during my walk in the city this weekend - they actually closed the road temporarily for some events and I managed to snap a rare photo of the street without cars! :)