The night is a well,from which I once drew the courage to face the next day.but now it has become the mirror of all my past mistakes and the regrets of my youth almost blot out the light of the day.oh wisdom,the gift that has arrived almost too late.
Yeah that's about the size of it ... although I generally make the distinction between regrets and disappointments. As I define them, I have few to no actual regrets. That is ... knowing the right thing to do and failing to do it anyway. My main malfunction has been doing the right thing consistently and having some significant crappy outcomes anyway. That's disappointing, but I don't regret the attempt.
If it helps...after years of being buried with a lifetime of mistakes and regrets, I've learned to say to me, "But look how far you've come". Hang in there, bro.
I laugh a wry laugh using your imagery, thinking of us pissing in our own wells and unable to refresh ourselves from it anymore. Darned if I know what to say except the longer we live, the more mistakes we'll probably make. I think wisdom has a large component of compassion in it and we should apply it liberally to ourselves as well as others.