Many years ago a good friend of mine Danny Mize and I were fishing in a small pond in Edmond, OK. It was a beautiful day, and we were in a small row boat with not much luck in catching anything but moss. However, our luck was about to change; I spotted a snake hanging over a limb high in a tree above the water. I decided to see what this snake would do with a lure if I could get it close enough. So I tossed it as close as I could and just as it was passing close, wham! the snake struck at it and caught it! Now I've got a snake on the line! So what do you do? I'm not reeling this thing in! As the snake is coming closer and closer to the boat my good friend is getting increasingly uneasy. He speaks rather quietly at first, "Cut the line." With each moment that goes by Danny becomes a little more testy and increases the urgency and volume in his voice, "Cut the line!" "Awe, it's nothing but a little water snake." Not to be one to cuss, my greatest fear now is not the snake but the oar he has in his hand.  "Cut the line!!!" So I did what any smart person would do, I cut the line.

Sometimes with regrets the best thing to do is cut the line!

• Regrets typically imply self blame.
• Generally people who ruminate on their regrets have a reduced satisfaction with life as well as coping with life. (Pessimistic vs. Optimistic outlook)
• Regrets result from our own personally biased decision. We all have a lousy memory of both good and bad things that have happened to us. (Like family reunions!)

So what do you do?

1. Make sure the way you are living and personal decisions made now are emphasized above all else. The more significance something has the higher the value we place on it as well as the regret later. (Like spending more time with family, saying "I love you", sweating the small stuff vs. the important stuff).
2. The grass is not greener on the other side in every way.
3. Evaluate to see if your expectations were realistic. Face reality as it is, not the way you wish it to be.
4. Learn from the past, knowing regrets give an opportunity to appreciate other risks going forward. Life moves forward, not backwards.
5. Often times high achievers with high expectations underestimate the impact of the decision they made or didn't make. Nothing is as simple or easy as it sounds (ex: 6 minute abs!).
6. Admit your need for control, to feel important or be affirmed. Truth is...we are not in control, will not feel important or be affirmed all the time. So get over it! 
7. Your attitude is contagious. You decide to either stay in your misery and beat yourself up or CUT THE LINE! Or as Dave Chandler another friend of mine has said on more than one occasion, "Suck it up cupcake!"

 "Well Walt we took a look at you and you weren't very good." (When former Oklahoma State University All-American and Dallas Cowboy Pro-Bowler Walt Garrison asked Darrell Royal, University of Texas coach, why Texas didn't recruit him out of high school).