We all have our regrets, but unfortunately, sometimes we have something we’ve done that continues to haunt us into the present day. It’s best if we can confront them and come to peace with it.
Below are 25 stories of people who share the biggest thing they regret doing while younger. Check them out! A source to even more can be found on the last page.
I wish I hadnt cheered in elementary school.
You see, back then, it was a popularity contest. The pretty girls were cheerleaders — the ugly ones were the math and reading nerds.
We obviously didnt know that you can be both smart AND pretty….
Elementary school was more drama-filled than it is right now in high school, for some odd reason.
Anyway, being part of the competitive cheer squad made me egotistical. It made me haughty, snarky, spoiled. I felt glamorous to cheer in a blue, black, and white outfit — holding pompoms and wearing massive amounts of glitter on my face.
I felt beautiful and mature with all the makeup and short skirts and praise. I got along well with the other popular girls.
But looking back, cheer made me such a mean person. I taunted, like little kids always do, other girls who didnt make the team.
I stuck my tongue at people — a terrible insult back then.
Now, I know that high school year may OR may not be too different.
Some friends, who were also in dance/cheer, told me to tryout for the team(s) — I refused. They got upset, and we are no longer friends.
But Im pleased with my decision.
I no longer need to wear revealing clothing and heavy makeup to feel beautiful.
Source
I’ve got a list:
– Started smoking at 12
– Started drinking at 14
– Fought in lots of fights in my school, I often came home with bruises/broken bones
– Fighting my father
– Befriending someone who I could tell from the beginning were a bad person, I had no one and he was the only one that wanted to be my friend.
Source
A few things:
– Shouldnt have took a dump in my grannys attic in a pot that she had there.
– Shouldnt have given into my moms demands of getting married at 25.
– I never drank until I was 40, I shouldnt have started at 40.
– Shouldnt have beat up other kids in high school over cheating in a stupid game.
– Shouldnt have EVER thought about how would it be like to be with different women than my wife (Came really close to experience it but decided against it).
– Shouldnt have got into heated argument with my father over an advice he was giving me. Now he just doesnt give me any.
Source
Not knowing what to do with my life in terms of a career
This is a daily on-going regret.
jgw791
I’m not that old, but I regret being so serious and working so hard sometimes. I started working 50+ hours a week the second I hit 18 to pay for college. I worked full-time in college. I graduated debt-free and went on to work 50+ hours a week at a large corporation. I think back and, although I’m proud of myself and my accomplishments, I wonder if it really would have mattered if I’d have just went to that house party, attended that pub crawl, or went on that road trip. I feel like I missed something important, I feel like I was never young. Once my kids are older and don’t need constant care, I’m taking my life back and I’m going to travel and experience some things again. I owe it to myself, its better late than never.
Two_kids_two_pugs
Going on vacation and leaving my recently sober twin brother at my house alone. I knew something was wrong when he wouldn’t answer the phone.
I found him face down in my living room. It’s been 9 months and I still can’t close my eyes without seeing my best friend alone on the ground. His phone was 2 foot away and he couldn’t answer it because he was already gone.
Ragnorauck
In 2011 I decided I was moving from Austin to Los Angeles to try my hand at screenwriting. I gave myself a 3 month window to save up and sell off everything that wouldn’t fit in my car and during that 3 months I met a girl. I told her about my decision to move right off the bat but she said she didn’t care.
We had a great time in that 3 months, probably the best time I’d had with another person, but I stuck to my guns and moved anyways. Chase the dream and all that.
It wasn’t long after I left that she hooked up with my old manager. Now they’re married and have a kid.
Los Angeles didn’t pan out at all.
vectormessiah
Wasting so much of my late teens/early twenties getting stoned and playing video games.
Both those two things are great in moderation. Don’t let it become your life. Fucks with your confidence and actually makes you a terribly boring person if you have no other interests.
I’m 28 now and I’ve been over this for about 2-3 years. I look back at things I had trouble doing, like talking to people (not just girls, I really realised I had a problem when I found myself having awkward silences with guys I’d known for years), and I can trace it all back to the years I spent not interacting with people in social situations.
Flyberius
I was introverted as a child but now as an adult its like my brain is trying to be extroverted but doesn’t know how.
Now the worst part: growing up, through high school/college, no parties, few friends, even fewer relationships, never went out and did anything, no stories to tell, no hobbies, nothing. the first two decades of my life were completely wasted. I still feel like a child because I never had any typical experiences growing up.
[deleted]
Getting into a relationship when I didnt want to.
I had jut gotten out of a year long relationship with a guy who seemed to be nice initially but as we approached the end of our relationship, he turned out to be a very bitter person. He used to get aggressively impulsive about me not being able to meet him every now and then. The extent of it was that he used to stand outside my house and would cry and threaten me to come outside and meet him, otherwise hell come inside. I couldnt do anything and would try to stop him by any means.
So this all ended. I used to feel alone and out of attention. I know it is a terrible thing to do, but this attention void in my life made me drift towards a friend-zoned guy, who was madly in love with me. I started chatting with him day and night and before I knew it, we were in a relationship. I didnt stop it but it was not something I wanted to do.
This guy loves me a lot but I dont. He is my boyfriend but I am certainly not in love. I can not break his heart by coming out this relationship. So Ill just have to live it this way, thought I am not truly happy.
Source
Not sending my dog to the vet on Saturday. He was really sick, but my family and I figured he would recover if we gave him meds and helped him out, because it worked before. If he didn’t get better, we’d take him to the vet on Monday. He died on the Sunday.
AquelecaraDEpoa
Wasting time being anxious about getting schoolwork done instead of doing it and developing life skills as a kid. I’m 23 and probably have another few years of constant fighting to get functional. Learn basic life skills and discipline, or you’ll be paying for it for the rest of your life. I lost a decade and I’m lucky.
[deleted]
Spent the ages 22-29 single. Didn’t even go on a single date in those 7 years or even hold a girls hand.
It was lonely at times, but holy crap did I get a lot done. Finished college, worked some amazing jobs, saved money, traveled around the state, met hundreds of people, started a career. I feel like I lived 2 lifetimes in those 7 years. I eventually met my girlfriend a few years ago and that has been yet another amazing adventure and she is the love of my life.
I can now be a good boyfriend with a solid head on my shoulders because of the time I spent sorting myself out. If I had not been single for those years I would have continued getting invested in shitty relationships over and over again like I was before.
Being lonely sucks sometimes, but being with someone you are miserable with after only a year is way worse.
Braden0732
Eating a marshmallow while high on acid. Worst decision of my life.
fontanapainting
Letting myself get so fat. I was never really taught proper nutrition, nor was it enforced as a child. Now I’m an adult with very low self control when it comes to eating, and that lack of discipline spills over into other aspects of my life.
It’s an never-ending work in progress… But I’m taking things one day at a time and trying to continually reinforce good habits.
palmermarc
Few years back I started to date my best friend. A couple months in it was clear it wasn’t going to work out, I was moody and emotional back then, and she had some personal issues. But instead of handling it like and adult, I blew up at her and ruined not just the relationship, but also one of the best friendships I’ve ever had. Hurts every time I think about it.
MayhemMurphy
Had to be maybe 19 or 20 and working with a recruiter for an entry level IT helpdesk job, interviewers loved me and I was in the process of getting hired, think I had another interview set up. Saw one of the employees out and about and chatted her up, forgot the specifics but she made a joke about smoking weed so I did as well.
She went back and told the management that the new prospect was a pot head. Recruiter sent me an email freaking out asking did I talk to one of the employees outside of work. They issued me a freaking HAIR FOLLICLE drug test for the job, I got the paper work, got to the testing place and freaked out and just abandoned ship.
Ever since then I keep my out of work habits just that, cant trust anyone. I definitely regret not taking the drug test, literally nothing to lose and maybe would have had a great career by now.
ButtcheekConnoisseur
Not ”coming out”earlier than I did. The people and things I may have missed out on for fearing the judgement and opinion of others often makes me wonder what i missed in those years. Live YOUR life.
IvorAus
I was painfully shy and awkward around strangers and the opposite sex when I was in elementary school and high school. I really presumed that I had so few friends because I wasn’t the kind of person other people liked. I also presumed my social awkwardness was inherent and something I was completely unable to overcome.
I only found out that both of those are untrue when I was, like, 30. I kind of wish I had my teen years back so I could force myself out of that awkward shell and enjoy my youth a bit more.
bunglejerry
An ex of mine. Its a long story, but she still haunts my dreams. While we don’t talk anymore, we did clear the water a couple of years ago and I got closure, mostly. So I’m not going crazy over her, but a part of me will always miss her. She’s a hole in my heart that I carry proudly, as weird as that sounds.
I regret the way the relationship went, and not her. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and I’ll never forget her.
GiantEnemyMatt
Not paying enough attention in high school. I barely passed and didn’t actually learn much of anything. Going to really regret that one.
[deleted]
I’m 35. I spent the latter part of my high school life doing to much partying and ended up selling drugs which ended up derailing me from my plans of college and career. I ended up getting in trouble with the law and getting trapped in the system. I did two stints in prison as a result of my mistakes and have only been out and well since the end of 2009. Now I have to navigate the world with a criminal record which includes 2 drug felonies.
I never really thought about the consequences of my actions while I was screwing up and honestly was in such a strange state that I didn’t think about living long enough to deal with my mistakes.
Now I am in a good place in life with a wonderful wife whom I love more than anything. I have mended all of the bridges that I burned during my madness and life is good but those mistakes I made when I was younger will never go away.
mar10wright
The fact that I’ve never put myself in a place were I could really thrive, and just blame it on the world being unfair.
EpiscopalianC******
I’m 63:
– Not saving at least 10% of everything I’ve ever earned, and investing it for retirement and/or emergencies.
– Marrying someone as a lark, complete with wedding dress from the 20s on me, and top hat and tails from a costume shop on him.
– Marrying someone else so we could adopt kids. (Although I don’t regret the kids, at all.)
– Allowing my oldest sister to bully me, for more years than you would believe. Now that I’ve stopped the dance I’m elated, but I deeply regret all those years of abuse that I allowed to happen and wish I’d cut off contact sooner.
SSSS_car_go
A female friend in college revealed she had a crush on me, and had for a long while. She was probably my best friend at the time and I never caught on to this because I’m gay, and at the time I was super deep in the closet.
She broke down and revealed this one night after we had grabbed dinner and saw a movie (I honestly can’t believe I never caught on). I did the only thing I could do, since this was clearly hurting her, and I told her I was gay. She said she had started to suspect that a while ago, but wasn’t sure and decided to pursue me anyways.
That night was the last time I saw her. I closed myself off slowly. Stopped responded to Facebook, texts, calls, everything. She was the first person I had told I was gay, and I was not ready for it. She was fine with it though, so fine with it that I think she tried setting me up with her brother at one point, but I was not fine with it at all. I was so nervous back then about everything, I wanted no one to know I was gay because of this overwhelming sense of dread I had about it, and suddenly someone knew my biggest secret and I couldn’t stand it. I got scared, so scared I cut her off completely within a few months.
I still feel like crap about it, and I should because it was a shitty thing to do. I’ve thought about reconciling a few times, but she’s left the state now, moved on with her life, and from what I can tell is a very different person from when I knew her. I’m out now, and finally happy with myself and my life, but this thing I did to a good friend weighs on me.
I_R_RILEY