Purpose

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“We must rise above the milieu into which we were born. Sometimes, doing that requires more strength than we have at that moment. It is a task that awaits us, will always await us, and one that circumstance will one day force us to confront.”
—VirtualWayne

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As Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) said in the movie, On the Waterfront,

“You don't understand, I could'a had class, I could'a been a contender, I could'a been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it.”

Regret is a sign that someone is evolving, growing. Their soul is becoming wiser. They know more today than they knew yesterday. They're a better person than they were. We all are evolving and may one day look back on our (possibly) misspent opportunities and think, "What a waste."

I suspect that the wiser we become, the tougher our life lessons become. We are always learning and we progress from easy lessons to difficult lessons.

What are we learning?

We are learning wisdom, to become wiser souls than we are today. To do that, we may have to walk a mile (or a lifetime) in someone else's shoes. You may be that person who is born with a disability, or who lives in grinding poverty, or who is innocent but is serving a life sentence in prison. As the proverb says, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

There will always be lessons. There will be lessons that, today, we cannot even comprehend. We will make mistakes, and we will learn from them. We may choose to learn, or Life may force us to learn, but we will learn and we will evolve and grow. Every life, every soul, has a purpose.

As was written long ago: 

“Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
  Whoever is discerning, let him know them.”