As the overused saying goes, “Pay close attention to the decisions you make today, for they will heavily effect your life tomorrow.” Or Something like that.
The following AsK Redditors share the poor decisions they’ve made that weren’t so easy to reverse.
‘This is bad. Real bad. Michael Jackson.’
Find the original thread source at the end of the article.
I decided to break up a fight. It was a success at first, but then some guy came from behind and tackled me. I was stronger than him and gave a few good ones, but he was obviously a trained fighter. He put my leg in some type of jiu-jitsu hold and tore my ACL. The school ended up getting involved and kicked three people out, including the guy who ruined my knee. I was an uninsured student at the time.
Suing crossed my mind, but I wasn’t supposed to be at the bar and I was on a full-ride scholarship, I was more worried about my scholarship being taken away. Plus, I was 19. What the heck did I know?
This happened in 2001. More than ten years later, I still cannot play any sports and I have to be extremely cautious in the snow. But it doesn’t hurt anymore except for during the winter months when it throbs from time to time. Heck, sometimes I forget which knee is injured. I have to be extremely careful when walking on an icy sidewalk. If I slipped and had to regain my balance, my knee would fail me. I plan on upgrading my insurance coverage one of these days to get it fixed.
deleted
Cutting the majority of my penis off with scissors when I was about 4.
I had chicken pox and my penis was so itchy that apparently I decided it was a good idea to just cut it off. I can’t pee in urinals, I have to sit on the toilet and reach behind my back and pull my testicles back to pee correctly. And yes I can still masturbate.
is_cockless
I tried to climb the highest mountain in my country. My father took me and my brother there with some friends.
The problem is that I have sickle-cell anemia, and due to the low oxygen I just couldn’t go further; but I did anyway. Bad idea. My spleen and appendix almost burst, and I had to wait for 24 hours in agonizing pain before a helicopter rescued my butt. I had to get my spleen and appendix removed. And now I can’t do any “hard” exercise, ever.
Mintaka7
I missed the party that Bill Gates threw when I was in college before Microsoft took off because I got high.
deleted
When I was 20 or so I was poor, my family was poor, and things got really bad that year.
I decided I could make some quick money flipping stolen items (buy cheap, sell for a profit). I was wasn’t very smart about it and got busted.
I got a felony and 7 years of probation. Now I’m 28, I can’t get a freaking job anywhere, and life is nearly pointless at this juncture.
I’ve been on the good side of the law since that all went down, and with each month that passes where I wonder if I’ll eat tomorrow or have a roof over my head I think more and more, “I could solve this by getting back into crime…”.
It’s a vicious cycle, and I’d rather be shot in the mouth than go through all of it again.
I have no clue how I’ll ever get my life back on track.
Don’t commit crimes when you’re desperate. You’ll do something stupid and screw your life up forever. And don’t ever think that anyone will “get it” or give two craps about you, because they won’t. The world will condemn you, crap on you, and then treat you like a worthless lazy bum because no one will hire you.
Yay for life.
xSiNNx
I decided to try and be a parkour expert. My crappy coordination didn’t kill my motivation…until one evening, I was at a local park, and decided to do a massive wall jump that failed epically.
I fell on top of a jabbed surface and tore my intestines. Due to this injury, I now have a permanent colostomy at the ripe age of 16.
Mistakes man, they suck.
KaoticToker
I decided to not socialize when I was younger. I didn’t go to a 4-year college and I work full time.
Now I have no life.
iamzombus
I bought a penis-ring to have sex with my ex-girlfriend. The first (and only) time I used it, I set the ring size way too small and basically choked my penis from lack of circulating blood. Completed sex, but the next morning my penis was shrivelled (like half it’s normal flaccid size) and looked like it was covered in really tiny veins everywhere. I went to the emergency room and it turns out that I caused ‘ischemia’ in parts of my penis, burst a few blood vessels, and basically destroyed my ability to get an erection for the rest of my life. I am only in my 20’s.
This happened three years ago, and my ex broke up with me shortly afterwards. I can still get a semi-erection, maybe 20% of what it was previously if I use viagra. It gets engorged somewhat, but doesn’t get ‘up’ like previously. Erectile disfunction causes a lot of stress, anxiety, worry, etc. No matter what age you are.
The worst part was that I really couldnt confide in anybody what was the source of my stress… my parents especially could see something was wrong whenever I visited, but I just told them that I was upset because my girlfriend broke up with me.
rudymru
Volunteering to go to war.
I didn’t even have to go, I could have finished my contract out and never have went. I feel like it cost me my sanity and happiness most of the time. Definitely took more out of me than I ever expected it to.
ninefivedelta
Maybe this not 100% of a permanent worst decision, but I’m a recent college graduate with a degree in film.
While film is my passion I hate myself every day for being naive enough to major in film.
ScubaSteve1219
Buying that World of Warcraft subsciption and game in 2004.
I’ve been clean for 3 years and never looked back. It was some of the most memorable times I’ve ever had in a game but I kept prioritizing it over real life. So it helped some become who they are and others regret it with a passion, but everyone gets nostalgic over it.
mllax
Smoking. I have done irreversible damage to my body. For no reason other than to get a nicotine fix for a problem I created for myself.
I quit 2 years ago and I still think I want to smoke on a weekly basis but I know better now.
Ganthamus_prime
Screwing around in high school and not going to college.
I’m not saying college is necessary for everyone, but I think I would be in a much better place overall if I had gone. I have a decent corporate job that I am very good at. I’ve been employed by the same company for 10 years. My life is not horrible, but the ceiling is getting so low that I have to crouch in my cubicle.
I’ve seen enough advice animal memes on the front page to know that the high school kids are out for summer. If you are reading this, please take my genuine advice. Just tough it out, do well in school, and get a scholarship. Your schoolwork should really be your main focus in life. It will suck. You may not get to go do the things your friends are doing. I know this. I chose to have fun, and now I don’t have much fun anymore. I have close friends that are now fresh new lawyers, paramedics on their way to becoming Doctors, a Wall Street broker and even an astrophysicist, and I am already 10 years into a middling career that can’t ever really make me happy.
I’m not saying my life is over and this is it for me. I can go to college in my spare time, my employer will even help pay for it. I am pretty good at taking pictures, I can see a spark there, maybe something will come of that as well.
What I’m saying is I would have much preferred, in retrospect, if I had just buckled down, worked hard and gone to college right after high school when learning was still fresh and I still remembered a bit about high level algebra. The ability to learn at the rate you currently do goes away. Use it while you have it. Now, I’ll have to re-learn a lot to do schoolwork around a full time job.
amsterdaam
I turned down my dream job because of location.
Then, I ended up getting another job elsewhere that was the right location and a high salary, and those were the worst 5 years of my life.
behindtimes
It was a very gradual shift over the course of a year from “if I eat a little less and exercise more” to “if I eat absolutely nothing and exercise for 4-5 hours a day” that did it to me.
The entire time I felt like I was making a conscious, independent choice as I slipped further and further into a mental illness that kills 20% of it’s sufferers. Now I have a serious heart problem, osteopenia, and people still do not think I am sick, just “in control.” I would have less health problems if I were overweight. My doctors had to let me go once I was a “healthy” weight but that didn’t help my mental health at all.
Every day I struggle with putting the food I need to live into my body. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.
astrophelia
Not breaking up with my ex-wife while we were in college. One night we were doing laundry and we were right on the verge of breaking up. We almost broke up, but I backed down. We ended up getting married and had a couple of kids. My life is very screwed up because of her now 15 years down the road…but I have two wonderful kids from the relationship, that would not exist if we had broken up that one night.
It’s funny how so much of my life seems to pivot around that one night and that one decision. Without making the decision I made I would not have my kids. But my life would not be screwed up either. I think about that night a lot.
imaunitard
Tattooing my wife’s name.
She got mine, too and we were married for six years (at the time), blissfully in love. It lasted another 8 and now I just wanna chop my arm off.
hrhomer