At 70, Oprah Winfrey Reveals Her ‘1 Regret’ in Life in Raw Interview
Oprah Winfrey opened up about the “one regret” she has about her career.
“I should’ve handled all of that differently,” she said.
Now, she knows making good decisions is all about listening to her “emotional GPS system.”
Even Oprah Winfrey needs a break sometimes—and not giving herself that downtime contributed to the “one regret” she has about her career. She reflected on the memory in an interview about turning 70 in honor of Al Roker’s birthday.
The misstep took hold somewhere between 2008 and 2011, when the Oprah Winfrey Network began and The Oprah Winfrey Show ended—a busy time, as you could probably imagine. “I would not have taken on the responsibility of trying to build a network while still ending the show,” the media mogul told Roker on Today. “That is my one regret. That is my, ‘I should’ve handled all of that differently.’”
She continued: “I’d made a decision that it was time for the show to end, I don’t regret that. What I do regret is trying to do multiple things at the same time.” Instead, Winfrey wishes she would have followed her own advice of: “‘When you don’t know what to do, do nothing. Get still with yourself and do nothing.’ I would have given myself that time,” she said.
It was a hallmark lesson in listening to herself. “Everybody has that natural life force instinct inside yourself that lets you know what’s right or wrong, or that is your emotional GPS system,” she explained. “And any time I’ve ever gone against that, any time, is when I’ve made a mistake.”
On the flip side, she said, “every time I’ve just gotten still and listened to what my gut said—what that still small voice that resides inside me and you and everybody else says—I would never have made a mistake.”
Aging, after all, comes with the experience needed to follow that “emotional GPS system” that Winfrey referenced, which is why she was excited to turn 70 in February, and why she told Roker not to be scared about hitting the milestone.
“I was excited to make (70),” she said. “I’m excited to make every number. Because I remember many years ago as a young girl, I always thought that I would never make it to the 60s or 70s.” Now, she’s ready for what’s to come. “There is a sense of knowing there isn’t as much time left, and I am at peace with that knowing,” she said. “There’s a sense of urgency for me about living well, living as strongly as I can.”
And hopefully, without any more regrets.
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