Which Is Worse: Regretting What You Did or Didn’t Do?

The soulful science behind woulda, coulda, shoulda

Michele DeMarco, PhD
Elemental
Published in
9 min readJul 12, 2021

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Woman sitting on a chair by the window looking out
Photo: Anthony Tran/Unsplash

Which is worse: regretting what you did or didn’t do? Which is harder to live with: a misstep or a missed opportunity?

This is a writing prompt I’ve used in a class I teach called “Writing Your World.” The best writing prompts are evocative, and because much of…

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Michele DeMarco, PhD
Elemental

Award-winning writer, therapist, clinical ethicist, and researcher specializing in moral injury. I talk about the stuff many won’t. micheledemarco.com