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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What do you regret not doing?

143 replies

jennie0412 · 26/10/2020 16:38

Just that really.

OP posts:
BitOfFun · 26/10/2020 18:38

Not dumping my ex after seeing the red flags at three months.

Leaving the bookshop I loved working in, because it looked like it was about to close.

AlCalavicci · 26/10/2020 18:39

@Scout2016
You would of loved my job !

Happymum12345 · 26/10/2020 18:48

I regret not marrying a handsome doctor.

allfurcoatnoknickers · 26/10/2020 19:06

I regret not studying abroad, and on a related note, regret letting my mother be so controlling when I was an adult.

I've broken away from her now, but most of my main regrets come from listening to her.

SuzieCarmichael · 26/10/2020 19:09

I regret doing physics instead of geography for A Level. And I regret not doing a gap year. Six months of working and then six months of travelling would have fast-forwarded a lot of stuff I ended up spending my 20s on and just generally made me grow up a lot quicker.

thebear1 · 26/10/2020 19:17

Not much, a few embarrassing drunken episodes but i guess they were character building!

JaJaDingDong · 26/10/2020 19:21

Not having a third child.

Baconking · 26/10/2020 19:27

@Nannewnannew

I regret not going to pick my son up when he asked me to, he may still be alive today if I had. The guilt will stay with me forever.
Don't allow the guilt to eat away at you.

None of us know what the future holds. I am so sorry for your lossFlowers

frustrationcentral · 26/10/2020 19:27

Not working hard enough at school/college. I really wanted to get into a certain career and now don't have what I need to get into university to train. I'm now early 40's, children are no longer as dependent so I feel it's time for me now but I'm not really prepared to do my GCSE's again and then Uni

Baconking · 26/10/2020 19:29

I regret not trying harder at school.

Scraped through my gcses and have moved from dead end job to dead end job since.
I know there are others in a much worse position but I think I had the brains to do much better than I did

Grapewrath · 26/10/2020 19:30

Not telling anyone about my neglect as a child because it was minimised by my parents. I think my life could have been different. I regret getting into relationships with people who needed to be fixed as a result

bubblesforlife · 26/10/2020 19:34

Lots!
But ones I’ve been thinking about recently.
Sticking with playing musical instruments, I was very good. I just needed to keep at it.

Secondly, ‘breaking up’ with my (so called) best friend sooner to remove the cloud and hurt it has caused me since over a year ago.

AgeLikeWine · 26/10/2020 19:36

I regret not investing in property. Had I done so twenty years ago, I would now be wealthy and retired. Instead, I squirrelled my savings away in ISAs, where it earned absolutely nothing and I will very likely to be working until I’m 67.

Nannewnannew · 26/10/2020 19:40

@Baconking Thank you for your kind words.

Lizadork · 26/10/2020 19:47

Regret not sleeping with boyfriend #2 as boy-not-really-a-friend #1 broke my heart. Made me very wary of jumping too fast and often I pushed away first.

Crunchymum · 26/10/2020 19:56

@Nannewnannew

What an awfully tragic thing to have had to go through. I am sure the pain and guilt you feel is insurmountable.

I assume it is more complicated than had you done X then Y wouldn't have happened.

I hope you have had the support you need to work through this and know that what you did or didn't do wasn't the cause of what happened.

Angliski · 26/10/2020 20:03

@RonObvious that 100% happened to me too! In brighton circa 2003. I saw the ad. I thought it would be amazing to go and I did, well, zilch. She died not long after and I was gutted I hadn’t taken my dad. Sometime later, I met someone who had invited her to his house to play his grand piano. They shared a bottle of whisky and she played till dawn!

Thankssomuch · 26/10/2020 20:09

Realising when I was young that I could have done anything, and didn’t need to feel pressured into marrying a horrible man.

Doobydoo · 26/10/2020 20:12

Not being with mum when she died.
Not being with my daughter when she died.

snowone · 26/10/2020 20:39

Travelling and living in a big city. Wish I'd have done both but I was a scardy cat and I stayed home 😣

Shizzlestix · 26/10/2020 20:43

I wish I’d been allowed to learn to ride as a child. Mum wouldn’t let me didn’t give enough of a shit to let her horse mad daughter have lessons
She could afford it. She knew I was crazy about it. Had I learned as a child, I think I’d still have my brave pants.

I wish I’d done VSO, I don’t know why I didn’t get myself onto the programme.

Chicchicchicchiclana · 26/10/2020 20:47

The biggest regret of my life is giving up piano lessons when I was 14. I think if I had learned the instrument properly my life could have been completely different and I hate my stupid teenage self for being so stubborn.

jennie0412 · 26/10/2020 20:49

Starting this thread has inspired me to do everything I want to do..
Considering booking dance lessons! Especially what @Chicchicchicchiclana, that's made me think that if I don't book right now I'll regret it when I'm older, my life could go a completely different way if I do!

OP posts:
OhTheRoses · 26/10/2020 21:01

Nannewnannew and doobydoo Flowers.

Harderlife · 26/10/2020 21:07

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