Would you change your past? Where regret really comes from

Almost everyone knows the exact moment they would go back to if they had a time machine, and the exact decision they would change. This is about why that fantasy lies to you, where regret actually comes from, and the one sign that you've healed it.

In twenty years as a therapist, very few people ever told me they regretted a choice they made from their own ground. Regret almost always sits in the choices made for love, approval or belonging: the incoherent sacrifices, the distorted compromises, the quiet self-betrayals we call kindness, and the ledger we keep of them.

Tell me in the comments: what moment would you go back to, and would you actually step into the time machine?

Michael Lauria