Wishing or Celebrating?

This week's Pleasure Peek (meant to inspire you to think about finding more pleasure in your life, as always) was a question from Zig Ziglar, an American author, salesman, and motivational speaker.

"Will you look back on life and say, 'I wish I had or I'm glad I did!' ??"

My comment was, "No more wishing!"

I'm curious what kind of reaction you had just reading those options ... ? How did "I wish I had" make you feel? Just seeing those four words leaves me with a sinking feeling. It implies that I thought about something, possibly longed for it, and yet, I didn't act on it. What happens when we don't follow our heart, soul or gut? We let ourselves down, yet, how far would we go to not let someone else be disappointed in us??

Just using the word wish already sets us up for sadness and regret since it implies having a thought that likely will not come true. In fact, the definition of wish is "to want something that cannot or probably will not happen". Even the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" includes the lyrics that states your heart must be in your dream and you're not just wishing, but focusing on a star to help deliver what you want.

But, how does it feel to hear yourself say, "I'm glad I did it!" There's no room, not even a whiff of remorse in that sentence. Interestingly, it may not even be that the experience you had was wonderful or even good, however there is always the implication that you were still able to come away with some kind of satisfaction. I'm not going to bring up the details of my experiment with Florida living several years ago again (as I've already beaten that dead horse many times), however I will say that while it was not the best time I've ever had, I'm glad I tried it out.

So if you ever hear yourself start to say, "I wish I had ...", stop yourself right there. Remember that it is just as important to support yourself and not allow for self-abandonment as it is to do the same for others, maybe even more so.