To ask if you could change just one decision you have made...

[LifePond]

What would it be?

Mine : In October 2005 I considered changing my mobile phone number but did not. I wish I did ....

Can I ask why?

Mine would be marrying my ex husband

Not having children with ex husband. Almost too much heart break to survive for many different reasons.

Interesting question.

I think probably my career choice.

Probably being with someone all the way through Uni who later turned out not to be worth the time and effort.

Although not completely my choice, if I hadn't wanted to I probably wouldn't have had to... I would change going to boarding school at 16, often wonder how different (better) life might have been if I didn't

In 1986 I sold a beautiful flat and bought a house. SW London. For the same money I could have bought two two bed flats (not as swish as the one I sold). One for cash and one to live in. Wpuld have been the start of my buy to let empire. I thought about it. But wanted to live in a house.

Career choice or not returning to work sooner after having kids, as a long break has backed me into a corner now with the career I chose.

I should have done nursing instead of my oversubscribed area of study.

I left my brilliant job a few months ago after having a miscarriage and being depressed, but I really wish I didn’t. Now I am unemployed and more depressed!

I would have married my partner before we had Dd as life gets in the way and I wish our grandparents could have seen us get married. Not a huge regret really just something I occasionally think of

There's a certain front door I passed by 25 years ago, almost knocked on it to reconnect with someone and didn't...

Not stayed with my boyfriend through university and probably not married my dh.

Nothing at all.

Although my life is very far from perfect, any decision I might change may have resulted in my life taking a completely different course. And I wouldn’t swap my dh and dcs for anything!

I wish I had done my wedding day completely differently, it was shite.

Why do you wish you'd changed your phone number op?

Can't type it in :(

When I was 19 I let my grandmother and aunt talk me out of trying to join the police force. I still regret not following my own path 😑

I like my life so nothing. Trousers of time and all that!

Not being with my boyfriend all through university. We got together the month I started and broke up a month after graduating. It held me back in so many ways.

Taking out my first payday loan when 18.
Started a long spiral of debt (partly through my own stupidity, partly to continually fund a relative who still needs bailing out constantly), and I'm now £40k in debt and facing several years at least of living like a pauper to pay it all off. Not to mention a further 6 years to get my credit history looking respectable again.

All the more galling because I now have the benefit of more sense, a little hindsight and a job that provides a semi-decent income. If I hadn't been so stupid over the years I'd be much better off now.

And there are so many other issues at present - it feels like the while family is slowly falling apart, and while money isn't the root cause of all of it I can see so many areas where a little cash to get rid of debts, ease the burden or to be able to do something nice would help.

Including bailing out the above-mentioned relative, most likely. So perhaps I'll never learn.

But if I could do one thing it would be to go back and give 18 year old me a really good shake.

I would also though tell past me to be more supportive of younger Dsis - all I saw back then was the trouble she would cause, and not how much she really needed support. She's doing much better now, though still struggling on, but I look back on how much of a cow I was back then and I honestly wonder if maybe doing things differently could have made a difference.

I can’t think of any regrets I have (yet!). Everything, even the bad things, led me somewhere I wouldn’t change.

Why do you wish you'd changed your number, op?

I wish I had never smoked in my life.

Mortgaged ourselves to the hilt to take on a 550k house in 2007. DH had a choice of 2 different offices meaning we would buy in one or the other. Opted for one and after the value falling through the floor it had only just got back to what we paid for it when we sold it last month. If we had opted for the other one, it would have sold for double what we paid. I’m not materialistic but now that I’m unwell, that financial cushion would have dramatically changed things and made it easier to take the time off needed.

I kind of wish I'd known I could do a degree in my ideal job/ subject.

But then I'd not have met dh and had these DC, which would be weird.

Also I made a fucking stupid decision about 15 years ago. I'd take that one back even though it gave me a kick up the arse in some ways.

Not telling my grandmother I was pregnant when I was 9 weeks with my first baby (I was34 and she was 81). We lived 300 miles apart but were close and spoke every week on the phone. We chatted for a long time. And I kept wanting to tell her bu decided to wait. She died - totally unexpectedly - 2 days later and I never got to tell her.

This was 17 years ago. I'm "over" it in that I've come to terms with it. Lots of worse things have happened since. But this was something in my control and I do regret it.