What is your biggest regret in life?

[Teadrinker11]

At 26, I know I'm still at an age where I'm somewhat young enough to make good decisions to prevent more regret in the future, but I still do regret a lot. I've wasted so much money on things I didn't need, I neglected my health for so long, it's taken me to 26 to somewhat have my life together. I'm studying law and love it, but hate how I spent so much time after school messing around wasting my life. I didn't go to college straight after school like so many of my classmates did and I still pine over the years I lost, when people in their early 20s are having the time of their lives. What is your biggest regret?

Drinking alcohol, 100%.

Every regret in my life is tied to that: bad relationships, drug use, unprotected sex with people who's names I didn't care to find out, huge debt, my self esteem and happiness.

I got sober years ago but I wish I had never started. I never actually liked it to begin with and when all of my friends started drinking at 16/17, I would take a drink and spit it out in disgust. I didn't start until I was 23/24 after a traumatic event on holiday and I used it to blank everything out.

I wish I'd had children sooner.

I wish I had paid more attention generally when I was younger. Just so wrapped up in my feelings and sped through years like a tornado.

I think I suit middle age!

No regrets. I am a product if my life choices- and | am a better person from even the unwise choices,
I woudn;t have it any other way.

Oh, I regret so many things-

-Staying in the same job throughout my 30s. It was fairly well paid I guess but I should have moved around a few times and there were loads of opportunities within the same org.
-Not making the effort to meet new people when I was in my 20s and 30s
-As above for finding a partner to settle and have children with
-Wish I'd travelled long-haul pre-Covid. Mainly stuck to European city breaks but I should done a few big trips e.g. USA, Australia.

Not living/working abroad for a period of time

Buying my first rental property. It was a pain to maintain and lost a lot of money when I got rid of it.

Wishing I made my parents send our pet cat to the vets to treat her tooth. I was young and trusted my mum's judgement but actually, she was just tight and did not want to spend the fees for the vets. This one makes me very sad because the cat had a miserable life because of it. This is my biggest regret. I find it hard to think about it or forgive myself.

Not having a third child.
Not realising my mother was a narcissist until my 40s.

I think the vast majority of people (including myself) have wasted money on things they didn't need. In Summer 2020 I bought a fold up bicycle, that to this day is still in the box

I wish I'd put in more effort and married a 'good' person instead of a selfish arsehole. I've spent all my dcs lives working long hours full time to pay the bills, stressed and alone.

@duvetdayforeveryone

I think the vast majority of people (including myself) have wasted money on things they didn't need. In Summer 2020 I bought a fold up bicycle, that to this day is still in the box

You should sell that! I've been trying to find one secondhand but discovered they sell for almost as much as new. Huge demand for bikes post covid.

I wish I'd left school at 16 like you did and took the time to decide what i wanted to do career wise. You'll realise at one point you made the right decision

Taking the wrong GCSE options at school and ending up as a PA, a job that comes with it’s own glass ceiling and absolutely no option to climb the ladder apart from moving across to be a PA for someone else.

Wasting a decade going out with an absolute arsehole and losing the chance to have kids with someone.

I probably shouldn't have married my husband. He's ok, but he's not my ideal man. (My ideal man probably doesn't exist) I wish I'd not pushed him so much to get married and have a child in my 20s, but waited. I had such terrible insecurity. Now I wonder what I have in common with him.

I regret not moving out of the city years ago so I could afford a small house with a garden.

I regret not doing the journalism course over the nursing one. My mum lobbied hard for me to be a nurse, not a writer. My gran died halfway through my nursing diploma thinking her granddaughter will be a nurse. I now run Tube stations.

I sometimes regret pulling away when the married man I was in love with went to kiss me. I'm pretty convinced I did the right thing though. I don't think I'd have enjoyed being the other woman and get the feeling I would have been very hurt in the end.

I try to see all decisions I've taken as steps to becoming who I am today, so while I've made some poor decisions, I don't regret them.

Having said that! I regret not giving my son a middle name for my dad, especially now he's gone. I can't remember my thought process behind that now, but it's bugged me ever since we registered his birth.

Buying stupid expensive clothes/shoes that I’ve never even worn. I’ve bought a pair of £90 sandals in about 2004, never wore them once. Ended up giving them away a couple of years ago 🙄
I’ve got several items years old in my wardrobe I’ve never worn, makes me mad to think how stupid I was to even buy them in the first place 😩
I’m much more careful when buying clothes/shoes now!

Spending far too many years renting when I could have got on the property ladder if us put my mind to it.

Spending too many years single and not taking a proactive approach to finding a luff partner.

*life partner!

That I didn’t see my stillborn son. I was whisked off to ITU and everyone was more concerned I was going to die too. I’ll never know what he looked like.

Not choosing a better father for my baby.

I regret and just hate the fact that I am a people pleaser. I stay under the radar and try and be the “happy funny” one instead of giving my opinion and telling people to fuck off when they deserve it.
I regret caring what people have thought of me over the years. It’s kept me in a boring job I hate. I’m 41 now and need to make so many changes.

Drugs and alcohol. Wasted so many years being wasted. Held down a great job but never got it together to buy a house.
Also escaped the violent ExH.
Now sober 5 years and clean 9 years and living a brand new life in a different country with a wonderful partner.

I regret nothing. Never have, what the point? Even the shitty things I've done - like stealing from a neighbours in my teens. I'm sorry and I've moved on.

All my bad decisions have made me who I am today - and I like and am proud of who I am.

This isn't a regret issue - this is about low self esteem.

@OneMillionSteps

*life partner!

I like luff partner! :D