Regret is as human as any other emotion, whether it is joy, fear, or love. At some point in our lives, we all make decisions we later question. Sometimes they are choices driven by impulse, fear, or incomplete information. Traditionally, regret is framed as something to overcome or eliminate, a backward-looking emotion that keeps us tethered to the past. But what if regret could be leveraged completely differently? What if it could serve as a compass rather than a cage?

In her forthcoming book The Path of Least Regret (Forbes, March 31, 2026), Parul Somani invites us to rethink regret not as a source of self-reproach, but as a tool for clarity, compassion, and wiser decision-making. Drawing from her own life-altering experience of receiving a grave breast cancer diagnosis at age 31, enduring chemotherapy and a double mastectomy shortly after the birth of her second child, Somani offers a framework for utilizing regret in a very powerful way.

Rather than urging us to make decisions based on success-maximization or ideal outcomes, Somani suggests a gentler and arguably more sustainable approach: choose the path that offers the most peace of mind and the least regret, regardless of the outcome.

Life, she reminds us, is inherently uncertain. While we can’t control outcomes, we can give........

© Psychology Today