Don’t Live With Regrets

Growing up, my grandmother was always around. She was a very kind person. Maybe too kind because she made many sacrifices in her life. For her parents, brothers and sisters, husband, and later on, her children. That’s also a part of life.

You can’t live together and build a strong family without giving. But the biggest sacrifice she made was to live in The Netherlands for the last part of her life instead of her home country of Iran. As long as I remember, she always talked about the past.

Always. And especially during the last few years of her life, she almost cried every day because of regret. Fortunately, my mother, father, brother and I visited her often and cheered her up. But through the laughs, I could see the regret. It was always present.

I’ve learned many lessons from my grandmother. Mostly about kindness and the importance of having strong family values. But the most important lesson I’ve learned was that you don’t regret what you did in life, you regret what you didn’t do. And when my grandmother passed away in January 2015, I decided to live by that lesson no matter what.

For example, I always thought I wanted to travel the world and live in different cities. I know, it’s not an original goal. I speak to a lot of people who love that idea of freedom and exploration. Why is that I think a lot of it comes from pop culture.

A lot of people idolize people like Jack Kerouac and Ernest Hemingway, who were famous for their travels. And young folks now are inspired by social media personalities who also travel the world and share it on their Instagram feed. The medium might have changed, but the desire to travel to others and share your experiences with others has not. However, that lifestyle is not for everyone.

But I didn’t know that before I actually started traveling. How could I Some things in life you must experience to know what they’re like in reality. No one can truly feel how it is to be an entrepreneur unless they start doing it. You can read all the business books you want, and watch as many videos about entrepreneurship as you want, but they will not make you an entrepreneur. Ever.

You will only end up living someone else’s life. I’d rather eat rice and beans so I can do the things that I love instead of having a job that makes me miserable, but pays well. At the end of the day, this is your life and the only way you can live with yourself is to follow your strongest desires. Just make sure you think straight so you eventually act on those thoughts.