I want to live a life free of aching regrets
I don't mind regretting the roads I didn't take, the things I chose not to do -- as long as I don't regret the choices I did make.
However much we might want to, however hard we try, few, if any, of us can do everything we ever wanted to. We make choices between one good thing and another, or choose the lesser of two evils.
I regret a career path lost when my daughter was born, but I don't regret having the baby. I regret that I didn't make love to a certain man when I had the chance, but I'm very glad of the friendship we've had instead. I'm sorry I hurt a lover by turning down his proposal but I'm very happy I didn't marry him, and make his, and my, life a misery
Perhaps it's possible to live a life totally free of regret. But personally I'm glad that I was offered the choices I was, and would rather suffer a pang for a chance missed or an opportunity not taken, than never to have had that opportunity in the first place.