Everybody in life is bound to have a few regrets but don’t put yourself in the situation to endure the larger one. My coworker and a good buddy of mine had a family emergency and he still ended up coming into work, he was still reeling from the news of the event.
My buddy is very dedicated to the job and he absolutely hates to let people down to the point where he will punish himself for the fact of doing so. In this situation he was punishing himself by the potential of the larger regret. I had to ask him “what would you regret more, not being able to say goodbye to a beloved family member before they leave you or missing a days pay at work?” Till I asked him and mostly insisted that he leave work he was intending to stay till the end of the day, yet he was extremely concerned and a bit of an emotional wreck. “There’s no point in punishing yourself” I told him.
I speak from experience on this one, my largest regret in life is not being close enough to my mother to be able to say goodbye before she was on her deathbed and unconscious. I made many poor decisions ultimately I pushed all my family away at that time, knowing her last words were asking where I was just adds to the pain that I carry from the situation. If I had the opportunity to go back in time and change one thing, anything throughout all time, even historical events that could potentially change the world I would go back and make sure I’m there before she’s unconscious! The world and its problems are seemingly small issues compared to the regret I hold over not being able to be there for whom brought me into this world before leaving it.
This is something that haunts me regularly, in my dreams sometimes I can see and hear her saying from her bed “where the fuck are my boys”. My brother and I weren’t alerted early enough to be able to see her conscious, we were on the way when she was saying this and very shortly after she became unconscious and that night passed away. We did see her while she was still alive though unconscious, we held her hand said we loved her and apologized for not being around during her struggles. Yet I still regret not being able to apologize for pushing her away in the first place, she was a selfless lady and really didn’t deserve that from her children.
It Took about two hours of continually suggesting my buddy leave work before he finally thought about doing so, I asked Kevin in HR to check on him and make sure he knew it was OK to leave with a family emergency.
He did get to see his grandfather before he passed, this morning he called me to notify me I helped him make the right decision. His grandfather passed away this morning.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!!!
Thats it @d00k13 OUT