What do people regret the most once they go past 50 in life?
人过50岁后最后悔什么？

 

获得106.2k好评的回答@James Altucher：

In six months I’ll be 50 but I already know what I’ll regret.
再过六个月我就50岁了，但我已经知道自己将会后悔什么了。

This is the cliche answer. “If anything had been different I wouldn’t be who I am today.” Like what I am today is so great I’d never want to change it. But... I wish I could’ve done some things differently in the past and still be the person I am today. Life is pretty hard and complex. And our brains aren’t smart enough to figure it all out.
有一个回答很俗：“如果可以重来，我不会是今天的样子。”就像我现在过得很好其实并不想改变。但…我希望过去可以做出不同的选择但仍然是今天的我。生活很艰难也很复杂，我们的大脑也没有聪明到能搞清楚一切。

KIDS. I wish I had spent more time with my kids. Sure, I spend quality time with them now. But I worked really hard and, I admit, I probably avoided them when they were really young and difficult to wake up and get ready for school when they were younger.
孩子。我希望过去能多陪陪孩子。当然我现在陪伴他们的时间都是优质时间，但我过去真的工作很辛苦，而且我承认可能在他们小时候还有很难叫他们起床准备上学的更小年纪时我是有意避开他们。

MONEY. I wish for 15 years or so I wasn’t so focused on money.
钱。我希望过去的15年左右没有这么在乎钱。

CREATIVITY. I began my career in my 20s doing things that were really creative that I loved. I was trying to write a novel. I was trying to do a TV show. I was always around people I loved so much. And I spent time with them because I loved them and not because I wanted anything else. I wish I had stuck with that. Now, in my 40s, I’m trying to catch up. It's never too late, of course.
创造力。我20几岁开始我的事业时所做的都是很有创造力而且自己也喜欢的。我那时想要写小说，想要做期电视节目，我身边都是自己很喜欢的人。和他们在一起是因为我喜欢他们，而不是有其他企图，我真希望一直那样下去。现在我40多岁，要努力找回原来的自己，当然犹时未晚。

HUMILITY. When I first made some money I became a bit arrogant. I started investing in all of these horrible companies and having horrible friends. It’s the double-horrible that finally kills you. If I were humble and just went back to what I loved, I bet I’d be happier.
谦卑。我刚开始赚到些钱时有些膨胀。我开始投资很多可怕的公司，交了可怕的朋友，这些“可怕”加在一起最终毁了你。如果我当时谦逊一点，回去寻找我所喜欢的人和事，我敢打赌我会更开心。

CONFRONTATIONAL. I couldn’t say “no” to people. I still have a hard time with that. I wish when someone does something that I don’t like or agree with that I would say “no” a bit more often. I’ve gotten into a lot of bad situations because I didn’t say “no”.
抗拒。我过去不会对别人说“不”，现在也觉得很难。我希望过去有人做了什么我不喜欢或不赞成的事时我能多说几次“不”，因为没有拒绝我多次陷入艰难的处境。

Here’s two cases where I should have said “no” more often:
以下两种情况我本该多拒绝几次：

-- When someone treats me bad.
—有人对我不好时。

-- When I don’t want to do something but I feel bad about hurting someone.
—不想做什么事又不想伤害别人时。

Anyway. If I had a time machine would I go back in time? I’m not sure. It's ok to feel regret sometimes.
不管怎么说，如果真有时光机，我会回到从前吗？我不确定。有时有点遗憾也没什么。

I thumb through it like I would a deck of cards with pretty pictures. I would have held my daughter’s hand when she came home from school. And I would have taken her for a walk around town. And she would’ve told me about her day. And I would ask her lots of questions. I'd listen while she talked and talked. She would tell me everything. And we’d walk for a really long time, until the sun went down and I’d try to tell her the names of all the stars above us. Even if I had to make it up.
我回忆往昔，就像拿着一副带有美好照片的纸牌。女儿放学回到家我会握着她的手，带她在镇上转转，她会告诉我她一天的事，我会问她很多问题。我会听她说呀说，她什么都会跟我说。我们会一起走很久很久，直到夕阳西下，我会努力告诉她天上所有星星的名字，即使有些还要编。

 

（翻译：菲菲）