Carl Jung once wrote, “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.”

I had to read that sentence more than once.

At first, I thought Jung was simply talking about unrealized dreams. The father who wanted to become a musician but never did. The mother who dreamed of going to university, but life took her somewhere else. The parent who wanted adventure but chose security instead. We can easily imagine those abandoned dreams being handed to the next generation: I never had the opportunity, but you do. Don't waste it.

But I think Jung was talking about something much larger than dreams. An unlived life contains all the roads we didn't take. It holds our regrets and disappointments, bu...

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