Do You Have Any Regrets In Life?

[Bunnylady54]

I regret not going to university. Also regret not seeing some of my parents’ friends ( also mine) more often before they died to thank them for what they gave to DD. I regret putting up with DH when he was struggling with lack of money & took it out on me & DD ( verbally & emotionally abusive), although all has turned out well. I regret not meeting DH earlier as we couldn’t conceive & ended up adopting. I regret quitting karate but had no choice as I was injured. Still trying to decide whether to take it up again or go down a difficult fitness route. Regret not talking to a friend about where things went wrong because now I have lost that friendship.

I do wish I'd not been so concerned with what others thought of me and had more faith in myself. I had no trust in myself whatsoever until fairly recently. Therefore life didn't make a lot of sense to me and I couldn't work out why.

Not addressing my mental health a very long time ago. Took a very hard tumble into a scary world to understand how bad things were. I regret not looking after myself when I was younger and making so many bad decisions in adulthood as I didn't realise how distorted my view of the world was. I regret not being better educated as I would love to work in a field that supports mental health in young people and how vastly, hugely, life changingly important this is to address before things spiral out of control. I mainly regret not being kinder to myself and to other people. I regret only learning this now.

I regret that I am rubbish with money that I haven't learnt from my many mistakes when younger, I regret letting my friendship with my best friend go because my ex disliked him because he warned my ex when they first met each other not to mess me about. I'm now single and recently got back in touch with my friend and it feels so natural and like it did but I missed so much of his and his children's lives that I will never get back.

I regret not accepting a job offer in Oz when I was in my 20s. By the time I did decide to emigrate (39) I was too old and not qualified enough to meet visa requirements.
I also regret not binning my ex sooner. Would have gone with the Oz job offer if I had paid attention to the red flags.
No other regrets just bad decisions and situations that I could have handled better.
We live and learn.

Thanks for being honest, OP! Much as you love your adopted children, it's only natural to wonder what it would be like to have someone with your own genes. And to experience pregnancy etc. I never have so I do wonder myself. xx

I regret picking up the first drink age 18! I didn't put it down again until I was 31! (5yrs ago)

Lots of regrets, non-fixable any more. Seems I have learned my lessons too late in life :(

I have a crazy past and regret so many things but I've learnt to live with the past and concentrate on my future as you can't change the past

I regret so much I can't bear thinking about it. After I had a nervous breakdown I had no one looking after my best interests, and was taken advantage of. I had a bright future at one point and that opportunity is long gone now.

I regret being raped and I regret PTSD utterly fucking the rest of my life up and irreversibly destroying my future.

Yes I agree regret can be important in terms of self reflection but that's only positive if you can learn and improve yourself from that particular incident or life decision .Getting locked into a past scenario and going over alternative options with IMAGINED outcomes is very unhelpful. Remember you are only speculating how things would be different positively,
life isn't like that.. you might have hated Uni, you might have gotten over by a bus, suffered anxiety...who knows?
People mature and change, I think the person you were at the time chose what they thought best at the time. Looking back is comparing different people and unjust to yourself.

I regret that the a adoption we are doing broke down after 7 weeks.

The way I look at it is that were times I could have made much wiser decisions. However I didn't make them and my not doing so has meant that I am possibly wiser now. My experiences have made me who I am so I don't give regret much headspace.

I regret staying in a terrible job as long as I did. I feel it's done permanent damage, as do several others I know who worked there

Actually greathat I suppose I could share in that but I suppose being so ill as a result of the place meant I left teaching sooner.

Oh yes, I regret not taking up my place at University because I wanted to stay with my boyfriend. I regret having an affair with a man who just used me, and I wasted the best years of my life on him - I feel sick thinking about him now. I regret being impatient with my parents when they were older - I'd give anything to spend a day with them now.

My whole life is one big regret.

The biggest ones though, being stuck so long in abusive relationships, not having kids.

You know what though, I'm not going to waste a minute more dwelling on what I can't change. And work on what I can change.

:)

I regret not being kinder more gentle, more appreciative, more patient with my parent. not being less childish, self-centred.
regret not joining the civil service aged 16; would have accrued a pension. and been more use all round. could have done further training in-service. wasted time and money, also believe encouraged elongated adolescence in univs.
regret not claiming everything I could have, not being more financially aware.

No regrets as it's brought me to where I am now and am very happy but wish I'd not piled on weight with my pregnancies and giving up smoking AND wish I'd stuck with the piano. But if I really had an issue with either I could start learning piano now and focus on losing weight!

Once a lovely girl I worked with invited me for dinner. On the night I went out with other friends and was having fun. So I texted to say I couldn't come. It was 10 years ago and I still feel bad. She had gone to the effort of shopping and cooking and I blew her out. She could have been a good friend, but I hurt her. She is a better person than me, and went on to do great things.
No other regrets.

I regret wasting my fertile years with 2 different people who simply didn’t love me.