Life doesn’t guarantee fairness. Rather than dwelling on our past mistakes we must learn to accept them and move on. Why do so many people spend so much time regretting the past? Instead of surrounding ourselves with good friends and good remodels we spend our time worrying about past events. We don’t look at our personal experiences and turn them into positive life-changing events. Life is too short, and no one will stick around a sad person for too long. Make the best of every situation, and live life with no regrets. I, like many other people, regret a lot of things I have done in my life, but I turn them into something positive. I know that in my life I have done things that I shouldn’t have, but without those mistakes I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t have the friends I do, and I wouldn’t be a stronger person. The summer before our 10th grade year in high school, I lost all of my friends because of a terrible fight. For about a month all I did was mope around my house and cry. I was stagnant, bitter, and I slept all the time. I soon learned that it wasn’t the end of the world, and I could move on. I could have a life, and I wanted to show everyone that I could become a better person. That was the summer that my life changed. I knew that I had surrounded myself with the wrong kind of friends, and I learned that “in the presence of a good man” one must “learn to equal him.” (Confucius pg. 214) I realized that we only have a short time here, and we have to use all of our struggles and mistakes to our advantage. We have to work with what we have, and not sulk about what we want. Robert Herrick said in his poem, “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time,” that we must “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may: Old Time is still a-flying...” because we only have a short time here on Earth, and we have to spend it wisely. When I was friendless and foolish, I was wasting away, practically rotting. I was a wasted life, until I realized what I could do with my life. I made the best of the situation I was in. To this day I still do not regret what happened, I embrace it, and I’m thankful that I was given the opportunity to change myself for the better. My family has always taught me that life is full of ups and downs, but in the end we’ll still have each other. My parents went through a rough time up until I was about nine years old. We constantly moved and were never really settled. Through all of it my parents still held us together, constantly reminding all four of us that we were a family no matter what. They made the best of some really awful situations. They always showed us love and support, and sacrificed a lot to get us where we are today. A lot of my life philosophy is based off the example that my parents set for me. FINISH MEE! My best friend, Melissa, has taught me the most about living life with no regrets. She helped me to learn patience, love, and kindness. She taught me how to trust someone after not being able to trust anyone. She is my hero. She helped me to mold my life philosophy in such a major way. I was shown that I could have a normal life after being so sad for so long. For a long time I mourned my old life, I wanted it back, and I felt like everyone else’s lives were so much better then mine. She made me realize that “The further one goes, the better the land seems,” (Tolstoy pg. 951) and everyone else’s lives probably weren’t as amazing as they seemed. FINISH MEE!