“fear is temporary, regret is forever” - What does this quote mean to me

in #life7 years ago (edited)

Fear is something that sometimes holds us back from taking  the much-needed steps to get what we truly desire in life. Nothing is  guaranteed in life's path. There's always a possibility of failures or  hardships. No one, not anyone can tell for sure what's going to happen  in the next second, and it's frightening, if truth to be told. But there  should be a limit of fear. There are so many people who fear the  uncertainty of life so much they give up their real dream of life and  choose a seemingly safer path in order to be ‘happy’; but can they find  real happiness?  

Let me explain the situation in a bit more detailed manner:  Suppose someone's dream is to be a wildlife photographer, which is a  much more challenging career than that of an accountant. Knowing this,  that someone chooses to become an accountant after a long consideration,  though it was nothing he wanted to become in the first place. But rock  beats the scissors and safety wins over dream. He becomes an accountant,  gets a well-paying job. Things go pretty well for a while, but then  comes the regret: What if I had chosen the path of my actual dream? –  and this two words ‘what’ and ‘if’ haunt him together for the rest of  his life.   What if he would have been a little braver and at least  tried to pursue his dream for a while – what could happen if he hadn't  give in to the fear of uncertainty?  All these questions will chase him  like a bunch of ghosts for the rest of his life. I’ve seen so many  people suffering from this situation. well, i, myself would have been  one of them if i hadn’t taken the decision of following my dream to be a  writer instead of an accountant at the right time. – Yes, it’s a  challenging field, and some of my friends from the accounting school are  doing really great – but when i picture me where they are now, i don’t  feel happy at all. They might be more ‘successful’ and acceptable to the  society than me, i’m as happy as i could be with my life and the  choices i’ve made. And, being happy is all that matters. i don’t want to  work for a corporate giant or hold a vital position within the  government, i want to put my thoughts and imaginations to paper/screen  and share it with the world. When i look back and see the moment when i  decided to become what my heart had been telling me to become, i feel no  regret – instead, nothing makes me feel more complete. If i hadn’t  taken the action to follow my heart, i might be regretting that night  and day this time- which i’ve seen many people are doing, and some of  them are among my friends- and thus, the quote in the picture makes so  much sense.   

“fear is temporary regret is forever” – might makes sense to  different people in different ways, however, it makes sense to me the  way i’ve described above. Follow your dream, no matter how the  uncertainty of the outcome frightens you. Not regret for the rest of  your life by giving in to a moment’s fear.  Regret sucks out happiness  like nothing else, there’ll always be a hollow space, ‍an emptiness that  can never be filled no matter how rich or successful you become if you  don’t be brave on that deciding moment. Life is uncertain, deal with it –  be brave and be truly happy for however long you live. May Allah bless  you with his limitless kindness and forgiveness.   

 have a nice day.         

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Hello. Thank you for your thoughts. It sounds like you have chosen the right path for you, even if it might be hard sometimes. No one ever promised us this would be easy. :)

I think it is also key to actually know what it is you want. And to be ok with the person you are while you are getting where you want to go. I've seen some people pursue a goal they thought would make them happy, only to get really disillusioned and bitter when what they achieved did not give them the feelings they thought they would have. Being able to re-tool and re-evaluate what it is you actually want, and how you can get there, can be hard. A lot of people give up. Congrats for going for what you really wanted and knew what right for you.

thank you for your thoughtful and wonderful comment @elsbeth . i's true, we should try to know ourselves that much to be sure about what we truly want, otherwise happiness and success will remain imponderable. I think I'll make a post about this sometime, and i'll surely mention your contribution inshaAllah :)