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Happiness

The Necessary Ache

Tara Daneshmand on regret and the courage to choose.

“A mountain begins with the first stone, and a human being – with the first pain.” – Ahmad Shamloo

Renowned Iranian poet Ahmad Shamloo says that pain is fundamental to human existence – not merely an incidental experience, but its very starting point. Pain is the price of consciousness, freedom, and choice itself. Reflecting on this insight, I recognized a profound yet rarely acknowledged truth: every choice we make inherently involves regret, so there are no completely pain-free paths in life. Regret is not just residue from poor decisions – it is the echo of roads not taken, resurfacing unexpectedly at various points in life.

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