Good thoughtful questions. You're current life sounds good, Perna. You are really out there, getting things done. Brava!

There isn't much I could redo about my life 6-18. I was raised in a strict family. 19 to 21: even though serious depression, drug use and drinking came into my life, I also started my career as a newspaper reporter. I used to say that I didn't care if alcohol was false confidence so long as it gave me any confidence whatsoever.

Maybe I am overthinking this, but I see very few decisions I've made or paths I've taken as things that could be a do-over. I see my path as intertwined with circumstances and elements of my personality that had to go through those experiences. I know why I did what I did and I generally do not think I was nuts or impulsive (maybe I should be more of that, lol) to have done what I did.

One of my spiritual mentors says, "People would do better if they could do better."

John D. MacDonald in the Travis McGee mysteries repeats several times in the series that every person is doing just about as good as he or she can at that moment. We say we wish we could have done better, if we could have we would have.

I feel I would have to be a different person than I am to have lived my life differently.