“Overcoming the fear of regret starts with lowering the stakes. It helps to remember that not every commitment is an existential saga, and that not all commitments have to be permanent. Commitments are relationships, and relationships are like living things. And living things die. When the life has gone out of a commitment, it’s no longer a relationship—it’s just a dead rule. It’s good to take on relationships and invest in them, and it’s good to work to heal relationships when they are sick. But when they are dead, they are dead. And there’s something morbid about playacting what’s not there anymore.”