Every so often I tell someone about the regrets I have for the way I treated people in the past, and one thing that they invariably say is that I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I completely disagree. I believe that I am exactly as hard on myself as I deserve, and moreover, I believe that people in general should be significantly harder on themselves than they are. You see, my regrets are what keep me motivated to continue trying to be a good person, because being good is a difficult process. I don't believe that people are ever ultimately good; rather, goodness is a continual process that needs to be repeated day in and day out, and that sort of diligence wears on even the best people, of which I am definitely not one. So I cultivate my regrets, like a garden, to remember that when being good feels like a drag, as it sometimes does, the alternative leads to far worse outcomes.
