i've had a few in poetry

if you live a life with no regrets
that doesn’t mean you were strong
or decisive or or stalwart or brave
it means you haven’t learned from anything
we change and we grow and we evolve and so
do the world and the people around us
being ruled by regret is sub-optimal
but some measure of regret is healthy
I regret all kinds of things because
I did all kinds of things and
I made all kinds of mistakes
I learned from those things and
I learned from those mistakes
I learned from some of them anyway
those regrets are the scars on my flesh
that aren’t the places where I hurt but
rather they’re the places where I healed
my regrets are just like those
stretches of pink shiny flesh
they’re proof of concept
they’re proof that I tried
they’re proof that I lived and
I will take some regrets over
the empty alternative any day
have regrets because a life
without regrets is one unlived
have some regrets but not too many
have some regrets but learn to forgive
yourself
regrets, you’ve had a few
learn to forgive yourself too