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Original poster

What is your biggest mistake in life?

110 replies

pllaqsd · 05/03/2023 19:49

Just wondering..if you are happy to share of course...what has been the biggest life mistake you have made and did you resolve it/how did it end!?

OP posts:
halfsiesonapotnoodle · 06/03/2023 18:47

Getting married. I should have had the courage and confidence to remain very happily single.

Netcam · 06/03/2023 18:50

denpark · 06/03/2023 12:55

Getting married.
Then staying married when he generally made my life miserable.
Not paying enough attention to the many red flags.
Then having children with him (don't do that - people like this don't get better)

Yes, this. But left in the end and married the right person 2nd time round.

garlictwist · 06/03/2023 19:03

derbylass81 · 06/03/2023 12:27

I applied to uni but at the last minute didn't go, because of a horrible boyfriend who I was besotted with.

I went the next year (whilst still involved with him) but it wasn't the course or the uni I originally wanted, I didn't leave my hometown, and I really think my whole experience was marred by it.

I'm doing fine now, but I just missed out on a lot because of him, and I think I would be in a better career if I'd gone on that first uni course.

Sliding Doors though, isn't it? I guess you really never know. I could have been hit by a bus on my first day at preferred uni if I'd gone.

Sounds like me. I dropped out of Cambridge to be with my boyfriend of the time with whom I had got together two weeks before starting university and was sure was the love of my life and the one 🤨

Transferred to his (less prestigious) university. Had an awful time. Cheated on him whilst living in the same house as him and his mates. Broke up and deservedly lost him and friends. Very awkward year ensues.

Got a good degree in the end but really feel like I ballsed up university and have some terrible memories of what should have been a great time.

StnNurse · 06/03/2023 19:08

Not cutting my mother out of my life earlier than I did.

if I could go back in time that is the only thing I can think of that I would change.

DuvetDownn · 06/03/2023 19:09

Buying a house mean a very busy road.
Everyday is bliss now.

motheroreily · 06/03/2023 19:13

Getting married and having kids with him. I've been separated for 7 years but he's still causing me so much stress.

beguilingeyes · 06/03/2023 19:13

Not telling the love of my life how I felt about him. I was 23 and clueless and we were friends and I didn't want to spoil it. Regretted it ever since.
On a lighter note... giving up the piano lessons.

wishmyhousetidy · 06/03/2023 19:16

Pd05 · 06/03/2023 13:58

Moving away from my parents house last year at 17 thinking it would solve my problems and I could do what I wanted. It has helped our relationship as in we're not having screaming arguments every single day anymore, but it sent me further into my drug addiction at the time and I am struggling more in general, going from having my meals made for me, not having to try and keep my whole flat clean when all I want to do is hibernate in my bed and not face the world, trying to keep relationships with everyone while I'm completely numb and the general comfort of having my dog and just a family around me, no matter how bad it got, I will always miss being able to wake up and go into my living room to see my mum and my dad sitting there, talking to them while I eat my breakfast, being able to waffle to my mum for hours while she made dinner and washed up. I had to leave to break the cycle or it would've never stopped and I have matured more in the last 9ish months than I have in my entire life combined, but I can't express how much I regret the hurt I caused. I hope they understand, I do see them at least once a week and things are always good now but I know it broke my mum at first. However they still deny doing anything wrong that caused me to leave. And I have now pulled myself out of toxic friendships and drugs.

Well done you should be proud and i am sure your parents are there for you if you need them . Good luck in the future

weegiemum · 06/03/2023 19:18

Keeping in touch with my abusive mother after she left. I was 12 and wanted everything to boo. It took me to 32 to finally break contact and the last 20 years have been much better without her in my life.,I'm still in touch with my dad and stepmum and they're great,

user1486915549 · 06/03/2023 19:20

Have just read Midnight Library. It’s not brilliantly written but it did make me ask myself some of these questions. In the end I decided it is what it is.
I could have had multiple options …but here I am.

GoldenFarfalle · 06/03/2023 19:23

Marrying my first husband.

CornishGem1975 · 06/03/2023 19:24

Marrying my first husband. He was Mr Nice Enough but not right for me and I wasted many years with the wrong person.

FourTeaFallOut · 06/03/2023 19:25

On the whole, I don't have any regrets. I've always played my cards pretty well. There are things I could have done better but I don't think any of them are tantamount to a sliding doors moment.

Ionlydrinkondaysendinginy · 06/03/2023 19:28

Not preventing my boyfriends death

mummywithtwokidsplusdog · 06/03/2023 19:30

Not having the confidence to buy a flat when I was younger…. Have a huge mortgage now…. But in the grand scheme of things whilst I do regret not putting myself in a more financially secure position it doesn’t bother me day to day x

Pd05 · 06/03/2023 19:30

arghtriffid · 06/03/2023 17:45

@Pd05 I wish you all the best. You sound like a lovely person.

Thank you so much

Pd05 · 06/03/2023 19:31

wishmyhousetidy · 06/03/2023 19:16

Well done you should be proud and i am sure your parents are there for you if you need them . Good luck in the future

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Thank you x

Pd05 · 06/03/2023 19:33

Ohyoudodoyou · 06/03/2023 18:16

Ah I feel for you, I messed up a bit when I was younger - but that's what we do when we are young...
I hope you get the strength to get a job/college and stays away from drugs and any more negative stuff. It's very positive that you feel regret about the hurt you've caused and I'm sure your parents will be wary but appreciative of your attempts to rebuild your relationship.
And your dog lives you unconditionally, don't worry about that..

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Thank you so much x I'm going to college again this September and continuing my animal management course and hopefully doing psychology at open uni as well. I have no desire to do drugs ever again, I've not done them at all for a few months except drinking as I've realised how badly it's affected my brain. I wish I could undo all of it but just need to focus on the future now x

themuminator · 06/03/2023 19:36

Not trusting myself when I started to realise that my marriage was abusive. I should have left when my kids were much much younger. But I stuck it out because I thought that is what you should do. Took me about 10 more years to leave.

EmmaEmerald · 06/03/2023 19:40

Not realising that work was about things other than the quality of work - in other words, not learning to play the game.

not arresting weight gain when it began.

to balance it out, I have made some good decisions career wise after the above revelation, though that's too late to make good money. I do think I've made good decisions with the money I did earn, so it's not all bad.

also being single was absolutely the right choice for me, no matter how much others dislike it and (used to) comment on it.

Sharereportbookmark · 06/03/2023 19:41

Putting my trust in medical professionals that they knew what they were doing. Mismanagement of my condition has lead to chronic health conditions. If I had been more proactive I might not be living with daily pain that has been unbearable at times. It had stolen some of my children's early years and I have not been the mother I could have been.

WoofWoofBeachLife · 06/03/2023 19:41

Getting sterilised before having children at my exh request. I always think don't have regrets but that is a huge one for me

Hawkins003 · 06/03/2023 19:43

Missing out on a special relationship, and not socialising more and studying more at university

Spraylatter · 06/03/2023 19:45

Having a termination of a surprise pregnancy due my husbands reaction being so negative. I think he would have come round eventually but I put loads of pressure on myself to make a decision so quickly. Lots of positives to not going forward with the pregnancy but I will always wonder what if

GettingItOutThere · 06/03/2023 19:49

Not sleeping around more in my 20s before I settled down .

Also travelling, just even europe.

The first I can absolutely rectify though and fully intend to do, now im single! ;)