No Regrets

A philosophy of mine that I have developed over the years is living with no regrets. This means two things:

First, that I try to not do things that I will regret later. I like to say that I am constantly striving to do the right thing, and not act rashly or in the spur of the moment.
Second, when I do mess up (which happens frequently) I try to learn from it, fix it, and move on. Regretting the past does nothing for the future. I try to take the lesson I obviously needed to learn, and continue on my way.
From experience, regret does nothing but hurt. It is a sign that I haven't forgiven myself yet and really, that does no good at all. A person is made up up their experiences, and I wouldn't have learned some important lessons if I hadn't made some of the mistakes I have made. So sometimes I am grateful, not really for the mistake, but for what its role was in making me, me.
This whole train of thought came to mind when talking to my little brother. He's following me to BYU (or rather, he chose BYU, and it just happens to be the same school I chose), and I have tried to give him advice that will make his Freshman experience as fabulous as mine was. The thing is, I wasn't always wise then (or now), so there are some things I don't want him to do that I did, but I don't really know how to talk about it. I don't regret those decisions, but I want him to take a different path. I guess I just have to trust him to do the right thing. That isn't easy.

Along similar thought lines, today I watched a couple of very recent videos of myself. I'll admit, I was surprised at what I saw. I guess I don't get an outside view of myself very often.
And I'll admit, I didn't see what I wanted to see. I didn't dislike myself, but I didn't see the girl/woman that I want to be. It's humbling. I guess I have a lot of growing up and deepening to do. Because that is what I saw - the image I portrayed was that of a shallowly minded (not shallow, but shallowly minded - a ditz, almost) girl. Not intelligent, not well thought out. Not what I want to be.
So here we get into what I am striving to become: I want to be classy, well thought out, a deep thinker, intelligent, kind, fun, easily brought to laughter, but also easily brought to serious thought and discussion; a person who can think outside of the box, on all sides of an issue, and really understand; a person whose actions are consciously made and acted out skillfully; a person that is observant and is always aware of other's feelings and how best to protect them; a person who always choses the right thing; a happy person; a person who is trustworthy, easy to talk to, and friendly; a person who isn't a pushover, but isn't too prideful to change her mind when appropriate; and above all, to be myself.
I know that is a long list, but if I don't have goals, a distination, then how would I get there? I am going to try to not mess up too much, but if a few little slips are necessary in the plan to make me that woman I want to be, then so be it. I am not afraid. well, I am, but I am willing to face it. So here we go.