What we regret most
Wish you'd thought twice about getting that tattoo? Rue the day you went for a new hairstyle? Want to take back that reply-all e-mail you sent to the whole office yesterday? We all live with regrets -- it's a part of being human. But what choices cause the deepest sense of regret?
Maybe, when it comes to regrets you're like Sinatra: His song says he's had a few, "But then again, too few to mention."Too few would make you one of the lucky ones. Most of us can mention our regrets by name.
"I would believe that people regret their relationships, because every time you get out of a relationship you remember all of the good stuff and not all the bad stuff," says one man.
According to a recent survey, the number one subject of regret is romance -- named by 18 percent of those polled.
And women are 25 percent more likely to have relationship regrets than men.
"I wish I spent more time developing relationships, more than going for the buck," one woman points out.
The survey shows the other top five regrets are family (such as picking on a sibling), career, education, and financial.
Men are seven percent more likely than women to rue decisions about their careers -- another main topic of regret, according to the survey, which appeared in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
"I may have made some different choices in my career track, and been more academic than I turned out to be," adds another male in the survey.
Did you study hard enough in school? Did you go to college? Did you graduate? It turns out that education is a major source of regret for people.
"I never really finished my education, so that is a regret because it is tough to get anything without that little piece of paper," says one young male.
Also among the top five regrets -- decisions about money -- and difficult family relationships.
But no matter what they regret in life, everyone we talked to says it's important to put those things in the past.
"Focus more on what can be done to make things better now. What's done is done. All you can do is move forward from here," adds the woman.
Psychologist and "Early Show" Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein discussed the survey, which included 370 Americans aged 19 to 103, with "Early Show" co-anchor Chris Wragge. Hartstein points out that we spend a lot of time on self- reflection, instead of what we can do next.
How can you repair regret and find closure?