My regrets in life are many, as I look back, but all of them could so easily have been avoided had I been of a different mindset at the time.
Sadly, it has taken doing battle with advanced pancreatic cancer, to realise that had I just learned to say 'no' occasionally, many of my life's regrets would never have happened.
Little things, like, 'hey, do you want to go to a party and get plastered?'. Instead of saying 'no, I'll give that a miss. I might just stay here on my own and have an early night,' I so often succumbed, not to temptation, but to a sort of expected level of conformity among friends, and went anyway, only to wake up the next morning having regretted doing so.
But, I also wish that I'd said 'yes', on occasions, too. Not to others, but to myself. In my young, single days, I often thought about going bush alone for a week or even a month. Pitching a tent in some scrub near a remote beach, living off of provisions, as well as catching and cooking fish over an open fire. All alone. Just me, relaxing, and embracing solitude. I never did that, despite a strong urge to do so. I never said yes, to myself.
Anyway, that was my thought of the day, and I hope you are all doing well.
JD
PS: As for this cancer. I'm winning. Yes, I'm fucking beating this thing, and I will, completely. Five chemo sessions in, and it is one third of its original size. It's still wrapped around two main arteries, so it's not over yet by a long-shot. But one thing is certain, it's in panic mode.
