regret: how much we want it > how much effort we put in.

regret builds character. regret builds character. i just received my college results, and i can't say that i am particularly ecstatic about my choices of colleges next fall (i do have some good ones + waitlists so we'll see). but neither am i particularly surprised. i was a slacker back in sophomore year; no clue what the heck i was doing back in zhong's calculus class. and even till this day, it's been my biggest regret that i didn't put in just a little more effort to get an A. but u can't change the past, and neither do i want to. see, after zhong's calculus class, that feeling of regret made me promise myself to never slack off in a class again; to never procrastinate on hw, to never skip a textbook reading. this feeling of regret taught me that life moves on, and i had a choice to either sit and pity about my gpa or work my ass off trying to fix it. and it's this feeling of regret that i believe builds the most character in people. we regret because we care. we wanted those results so badly, and yet, our effort simply didn't match up. this inequivalence is what causes us to feel regret: regret: how much we want it > how much effort we put in. i can't go back and change the past so that i can work harder in zhong's class and get into all the dream colleges i wanted to get into, but neither do i want to. i already know that this feeling of regret is going to change me so much, and in the long run, i WILL become a better person as a result of this no matter where i end up going to college.