I always find it peculiar when people say they don’t have any regrets in life.

The reasoning always seems to fall in line with the whole everything they’ve done makes them who they are today argument.

For me, it’s a different story. I have many regrets in my life.

I regret being so lazy as a young person: being lazy with chores, with schoolwork and just about everything I wanted to accomplish. There was always an excuse and if there was a path of least resistance, you can be sure I was on it.

I regret caring so much about what people thought of me.

I really regret trying to impress people that I really didn’t care for and will probably never see again.

I regret some decisions I made that got me into some trouble.

I regret starting college for the second time. I don’t regret the schooling, the people I met or what I learned there, but I certainly regret the choice to do it. I knew my heart wasn’t into it and sure enough, I was University bound the following year in a program I loved.

I regret not using the time that I had to really push for my goals and dreams. Time is the most valuable commodity on the planet because you can’t get it back–ever. To have wasted so much of it when I had it in abundance is painful to think about some days.

I regret not having kids earlier.
However, this regret has a caveat because there was some medical issues for me even having kids in the first place. So on that note, I still feel very blessed for having kids at all.

I regret being shy about challenging people when I knew that they were wrong, or when I disagreed with them.

I could keep going and probably fill an entire book on the regrets that I have and why I have them.

But…I don’t live with these regrets. I have them, but I don’t live with them. It’s a waste of life to sit around think, what if?

What makes regret hard, especially when you have so many, is the extraordinary effort to change course. It takes a significant amount of time and the results don’t come into fruition until many years later. But even a gentle nudge can set a completely different destination.

In my case, I’ve been pushing hard for years to veer elsewhere, taking with me the many good decisions I’ve made.

And if there’s one thing I can pass along to my students, kids, to anyone reading this site is to not let your regrets stop you from becoming a better person tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day.

Chart a new course now.

What a peculiar artifact.

A phone booth. Something we were all used to 20 years ago when you needed to make a call, obviously, but now? We look at one and think, “Wow, there was an interesting bit of history.”

I’m sure in another 20 years they’re just going to be a relic like rotary phones or fax machines. Even landlines are going to be something we’ll look at as a something from the past.

And yet, I can’t help but wonder what is going to be our future.

If we look at the technological advancements of history, taking a person from the 1400s and putting them into the 1700s wouldn’t be that much of a change. Sure, there would be some technological advancements, some border changes and even some ideologies that have come into fruition, but nothing that would make our time traveler spin their head.

However, take a person from the 1700s and put them into today’s age, and I’m pretty sure their brain would explode. Just the amount that has happened in 300 years is unthinkable. To project another 300 years would almost be ludicrous.

And yet here we have a phone booth at a gas station.

I remember the phone booth. I remember what it meant. But all it’s going to be is a memory–something to put in the museum to tell future generations this is where civilization has been.

I’m an optimist and I hope the phone booth is a reminder of a time when we were starting to get things right. I hope there’s a time we can look at it and say,

“I’m glad we do things so much better now and our world is much better off than it ever has been.”

Yesterday, by accident, I left the car door unlocked before going to bed at night.

In the morning when I opened the door to the car, I saw that somebody had ransacked it. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time it’s happened (and you’d think I’d learn my lesson by now… even living in a very nice neighbourhood).

Now, the thing with being robbed, is it’s not so much the losing of the stuff because items can be replaced. In fact, one of my good friends gave a talk about why being robbed was one of the best things that happened to him.

For my wife and I, it’s the feeling of violation.

You see, when I went to the car, they didn’t take anything.

Nothing.

Even the spare change in the console was left there, but everything was torn apart and thrown over. I guess they were looking for a quick grab, but all they could find was children’s stuff… which was actually the most valuable thing in the car…but I digress.

The whole crappy part of the day was knowing that somebody, or a few people, had gone through all our personal stuff and ripped it apart. It feels weird to spend time in the car knowing it happened.

And it feels strange. It’s just, not a good feeling.

Of course I’ll be sure to keep the car locked and double check it again at night. I’m tired of making that mistake.

I also hope whoever did it gets what’s coming to them.

It’s just the feeling of being violated. That sucks more than anything else.

It’s wintertime in Canada.

If it wasn’t the snow that gave it away, it was the mad rush to put winter tires on everyone’s car. I’ll be the first to admit I dropped the ball on getting them on early and have been having a lot of fun sliding around the streets until I can get them there.

My wife is very impressed.

The one interesting thing I find about winter driving in Canada is the two types of drivers that emerge:

The first type of driver is extra cautious because they are aware that the road conditions are much worse. That’s not to say they will never lose control, but they will be less frantic when it happens. Or so you hope.

The second type of driver is the one who doesn’t care that there is ice and snow on the ground and has a sense of overconfidence about their ability to drive. Usually, their confidence is unfounded.

The best way to drive on these icy conditions is to be aware of how to take control of your car in the event that something happens. It’s also necessary that you give yourself extra space to stop and you stay hyper-aware of all the other drivers around you.

Funny… the same things we need to be aware of in winter driving are the ones that would make us better drivers anyway if there wasn’t snow on the ground.

Sometimes, it takes bad road conditions to remind people the proper way to drive is to be cautious, aware and prepared.

If only we can do this year-round…

…not the snow, just the driving.

I’m from loud get togethers
people yelling
but not because they’re mad.

I am from pasta every day
hot dogs as a treat
dusting the house every Saturday
keeping the house neat.

I am from the Atari 2600
from the original Nintendo
and a VCR for movie rentals.

I am from road hockey
from long bike rides
and late nights just walking around.

I’m from Church on Sundays
espresso afterwards
and giant lunches that keep you full to bedtime.

I’m from my parents branches
from the war my grandfathers fought in
the grandmothers who ran the households
to the work ethic they all taught me.
There are many pictures in my home
all memories of the good times
and a reminder of what I left behind.

I know where I’m from
and I’m still figuring out
where I’m going.

This morning, the roads are empty. All the federal employees of our country have a day off.

Today is a day to remember.

Today, in Canada, is Remembrance Day. It’s a day to honor all those who gave up everything to go to war to protect our country, our freedoms and our way of life.

It’s also a time to remember all those who are still serving.

Anyone who knows somebody who’s fought in a war will tell you there is nothing glamorous about the front lines of battle. My grandfathers fought in the second world war and refused to talk about it.

Which is why I am so appreciative of those who stood up and fought. And I hope that they never have to fight like that on such a grand scale ever again.

But that can only happen if we were remember the lessons of the past and I fear we’re losing those lessons. I fear we’ve become too complacent, too sure of ourselves and too comfortable in thinking that it could never happen again.

They say tough times make tough people
and tough people make good times
and good times make weak people
and weak people make tough times…

I hope we remain tough. But most important, I hope we remember.

So whoever you are, whatever your background… please remember today.

My wife, being the observant person as all spouses are, noticed an eating habit of mine: I always saved the best bite for last.

Whatever I wanted most on my plate was what I ate around until it was the only thing left. In response, she gradually crowded out my “best bite” with increasing amounts of vegetables.

I barely noticed it happening until nine months later when I was feeling a whole lot healthier.

It only occurred to me recently this is a brilliant way to get rid of bad habits and acquire better ones as it’s not always practical to go full tilt on something new. Eventually the excitement wanes and a person is right back to where they started (as exhibited by the countless yo-yo dieters).

Crowding out habits is a great way to gradually get rid of bad habits and replace them with better ones. Although I will be excited to see BJ Fogg’s new book on tiny habits (I’ve preordered it), this is what I’ve been doing the past few years to help me out.

I am not immune, for instance, to spending an inordinate amount of time playing a videogame. For whatever reason, I always seem to search for a game that will keep me hooked. Then, once I find that game, lo and behold — I’m hooked and ignoring other things I want to do.

Then there’s the usual distractions that can keep any person away from the priorities they want to commit: TV shows, social media, 36 sports channels, etc.

Crowding these out required me to fill my schedule with the other “necessities.” Every night I spend a few minutes to update my budget, write a few lines of fiction, cleanup, clear one piece of clutter, mark student work, prepare the next day and try to meet my reading goal of 100 pages.

All of those little tasks add up to not having enough time for distractions. eventually, my goal is to fill the day with nothing but good habits.

In the meantime I’m content knowing that crowding out bad habits is working in the same way that crowding my plate with good food got me healthier.

It’s a pretty good option.