Blood & Ink: Regret vs. Failure

Regret is more painful than failure…

Failure stings. Regret endures.

Failure uniquely can hit you in the sweet spot where your insecurities meet your ambitions.

• I’ll never get this thing that I desire.
• I knew I wasn’t good enough for it anyway.
• Is there something wrong with me?

It hurts, I get it. But failure—properly metabolized—is temporary.

Reflect, learn, reorient, reengage.

Regret, on the other hand, is a long, slow, drawn-out process. It bleeds you of vitality, energy, and attention.

While failure can be integrated and become another moment in your life story, regret from never having truly attempted the thing lingers.

It stays in your mind, an open loop, an endless question: “Could I have done it?”

I can live with failure if I know that I tried.

It’s substantially harder to live with the regret of knowing that you never really tried to do it. It leaves you stuck somewhere in the past. Imagining, fantasizing, wondering, ruminating.

All to say — hold nothing back. Leave it all on the field. Send it.

Deep investment in the input. Leave the outcome to God.

You can always hold your head up high and say I gave it the best shot I could. There is a deep peace that comes from that.

And what do you know – it might just work out.

Give it your all,
EB.