Things I Don't Regret

Photo by Zach Reiner on Unsplash

Sometimes on rainy, interminable, nearly-a-year-into-a-pandemic days I look around in a fog: What the heck should I be doing right now? So I decided to make a list for myself (and anyone who wants to share it) of things that I never seem to regret:

I never regret GOING FOR A WALK. In fact the idea for this blog came to me—as most blogs do—on a walk. Putting one foot in front of the other out in the (somewhat) fresh air of the world always clears my head. Even if my glasses are speckled with rain and fogged from my mask. Yes, even then.

And related, I never regret GOING FOR A HIKE. Why is it so hard to get motivated when being out in the woods always makes me feel alive, refreshed, awake, at peace (you name it) again?

On the other end of the spectrum, I never regret LYING DOWN. I may feel guilty as hell. (Why? I got up at 5.) I may feel like there are so many other things I should be doing. (Why? It’s not like I’m getting them done in this state.) I may feel like I don’t have time. (Why? Even lying on the floor for one or two minutes makes a difference.)

I can’t say I ever regret MAKING A CUP OF TEA, though I do have to exercise strict caffeine limits, so herbal tea it may have to be.

And despite the same weird inertia around it, I never regret REACHING OUT TO A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER I HAVEN’T TALKED TO IN AWHILE. Who have you thought of lately, but haven’t reached out to? [Pardon me, I just had to pause typing this to send a text to an old friend saying I had a dream last night that we were at the Teton Science School baking chocolate chip cookies.]

I never regret FLOSSING, or DANCING or ORGANIZING MY BOOKSHELF or SAYING YES TO A GAME OF CRAZY 8s WITH MY KIDS.

What can you put on your own list? I’d love to know!