Something I always think “What if…” about

Published by

Minh Nguyet

on

April 2, 2020

REGRET IS PAINFUL

I applied to three universities and I got rejected from two universities. At that time, I thought I might be the student of the University of Economics – I hope that I could. However, the result was different than I thought. I missed 0.05 points to make that came true. I also failed at the second aspiration due to missing 0.25 points. Therefore I became a BUHer – a student of Banking University. This is something that I never thought of.

Many times I think, what happened if I completed one more quiz on the national high school exam with true answer? Maybe I would become a student of the university of economics. I would rent accommodation instead of living in the dorm with my cute roommates like now. Or my family will have to struggle with finance because of the expensive tuition. Not to mention that there will be countless things that I didn’t anticipate. My mother sometimes jokes with me: “If the tuition is too expensive, you will have to dropout” :))

And that thought kept going with me day by day. I always feel that I was really lucky. Our grandparents said :”A blessing in disguise” and I agree with that. But in general, I try my best to not think of all the “what ifs” in life, because it’s a waste of time. Regret is painful.

t bases on the way we see things and how we handle them. I think the best thing is to learn from the mistakes of the past, it’s important to focus on the present situation, try to make it well and at the same time, prepare for our future thoughtfully. 🔥 From that, we will never have to regret of what did and never have to say “what if”.

Thanks for reading ♥️

#30daywritingchallenge
#Day11

2 responses to “Something I always think “What if…” about”

miti99

August 20, 2025

What a thoughtful and relatable post! Your perspective on regret really resonates with me.

I’ve experienced similar “what if” moments throughout my journey. I originally planned to attend HCMUS or UIT, but when my scores were better than expected, I changed my choice to HCMUT. After the first semester struggling with difficult coursework, I often wondered if I should have stuck with my original plan.

I’ve also felt regret about my career path – sometimes wondering if a different job would have exposed me to newer technologies and different approaches. Even with my projects, I initially chose what seemed like cutting-edge tech stacks, but my mentor later advised me that simpler, more stable solutions would have been better – “old but gold” as he put it.

But like you said, I try to focus on the positives. At HCMUT, I’ve made great friends and gained valuable experiences (though I’d warn my younger brothers and sisters that my major there is quite challenging, so they shouldn’t choose it haha). My job has provided a good salary, benefits and an excellent boss who’s taught me a lot, plus unexpected opportunities (fulfilling my 2 dreams that I never thought I could achieve) like visiting Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and traveling to Japan. And those project choices, while not perfect, taught me that simpler solutions are often better – there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, everything has tradeoffs and we should choose based on our requirements.

You’re absolutely right that regret is painful, but every choice teaches us something. Looking at who you are today – someone I genuinely admire – I think your choices, even the ones you regret, helped shape the wonderful person you’ve become. Life is full of different paths, and we can only walk one at a time. Thank you for sharing this – it’s a good reminder to appreciate where we are now!

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1. Minh Nguyet
  
  August 20, 2025
  
  nice to know that, thanks for sharing your story here, đời vốn vô thường mà ^^
  
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