Choices not chosen

Lately I have been thinking about choice and how important commitment and fidelity are, but also the fact that choices can involve a certain element of grief (sometimes more so than others) of the things you aren't choosing. Anyway, in case what I have just said isn't clear, here are two quotes that say it better than I can:

"There is a longing for a return to a time without the need for choices, free of the regret at the inevitable loss that all choice (however wonderful) has entailed."
— Alain de Botton (On Love)

"Commitment is fundamentally about making a decision . . . making the choice to give up other choices."
- Scott Stanley