"There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way." - Christopher Morley

I will start with a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken (1915)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


I leave the interpretation onto you, but what I will talk about is after the road is taken, whichever it is, wherever it has led you.

There are things we regret, moments we cherish, hate and love, depressed and enjoyed, we all have it, may be in a different order. And most often than not it is we who decide this order. Sometimes we come across a juncture where we have to make decision, where we have to choose.

• There are decisions that we regret for the rest of our life. Played upon by life, realize the web that it has woven, ensuring we never smile again. We find ourselves lacking the energy to fight back; sunk in the guilt of our actions, convinced we have no right to smile again.
• There are decisions we cherish. Look back upon it and know we have made the right choice. Praise our actions and ready for the next challenge in life.
  

This may not be the fate of two different people taking two different paths. It may well be the case when the decision taken is absolutely the same. The difference is in how we approached it. Life can play upon it only if we allow it to do so. We may gain from the insight and experience of others, but it is your life and no one else knows better what to do than yourself. We are humans and not Gods and hence have got a birth right to commit mistakes. Mistakes are as important as our daily meals.

The difference is in how we approach our mistakes, to accept mistakes and have the courage to say it as our own to whoever concerned. You at every step should know what you are doing and what your actions might do. Your actions might be driven by intellect or emotions, morality or lust but they are your own and you should ride on them rather than be driven on by them. Then there shall be no regrets, no tears. Just a realization of your actions. You may want to confess and perform actions that can redeem your self. But you should not repent. Remember it is the realization of your actions within that change the world around you that you live in.

People who are often on top of there actions are happier in life. Because irrespective of what they get, they know that it is the result of there own actions. These actions may not always give results as planned, in fact may go terribly bad. But instead of breaking down they look back, convinced to minimize the damage done, and act in a way that can better the situation or at least does not worsen in further. It is this ability to think when things are not going your way that distinct a person who plays with life to the one played upon.