There is a popular psychological exercise called "Writing to yourself at an earlier age". This actually helps a person to realize what mistakes they made in the past, accept them and, if possible, become more calm and balanced in the present - after all, in fact, these mistakes cannot actually be changed.
Well, we all make mistakes - especially in our teenage years, when life energy literally overflows, our own life experience is still very small, and someone else's advice seems so insignificant and, let's be honest, so stupid. Some of these mistakes just remain in the past, causing only a feeling of shame over the years. Some of them, on the contrary, affect our entire subsequent life.
A popular thread recently appeared in the AskReddit community with over 12.7K upvotes and nearly 8K comments. The topic starter suggested that redditors perform the same exercise, only in a simpler form, by just answering the question "What was your biggest teenage mistake?"
Bored Panda has collected for you the most popular answers from this thread, where there are both sad revelations and funny moments that are shameful to remember, but at least fun. And perhaps the most correct comment in this collection is from a teenager who thanks people for listing the mistakes that they will try to avoid in their life. We hope they succeed...
Anyway, now scroll to the very end, like your favorite submissions and, of course, share your own stories - after all, we know that nobody is perfect!
More info: Reddit
#1 Not Taking Better Care Of My Teeth
Not taking better care of my teeth
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220points
#2 Marrying A 40-Year-Old Being 18 Years Old
Marrying my 18-year-old self to a 40-year-old who'd been grooming me for three years, just to spite my mother.
0/10, would not recommend.
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213points
#3 Being Cruel And Thoughtless To A Girl
Looking back at the way I treated this one girl. I was cruel and thoughtless. I’m 50 now and it still hurts me.
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210points
#4 Learning From Other People's Mistakes
I am in my teenage years rn and i realised i can learn from your mistakes, thanks redditors
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209points
#6 Being Concerned About What Others Were Thinking
Worried too much about trying to "fit in" and being concerned about what others were thinking.
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200points
#7 Coasting Through School On Being Bright And Never Learning To Study
Coasting through school on being bright and never learning to study. University was a shock and just about managed my 2:2
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194points
#8 Not Being A Rebel
I did not rebel. My parents incessantly accused me of rebelling and general debauchery despite being in a huge club sport on scholarship, being involved in school councils, having extra curriculars like orchestra, and art (which I always won awards for), having a 3.6 GPA, being the first in my family on track to go to a huge university, etc etc etc.
I spent my high school life hopping in between crying, self-loathing, and suicidal ideation when I could have been having fun and enjoying my childhood. I spent too much time wondering why my parents didn’t love me instead of doing something about it and refusing to respect them.
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177points
#9 Taking Teenage Stereotypes Too Seriously
I took teenage stereotypes too seriously. Like I thought the kind of dynamics you saw in teen moves were real- jocks were all dumb a*sholes, nerdy kids were smart virgins, etc. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that people are people and that I was severely limiting myself by assigning myself a "role."
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163points
#10 Not Getting The Hint That My Friend Wanted To Be Way More Than Friends
Not getting the hint that my friend, the beautiful Patricia, wanted to be WAY more than friends.
152points
#11 Not Pursuing One's Passion When One Had The Age, Health And Time
Not pursuing my passion when i have the age,health and time with me
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136points
#12 Not Realizing That One's Parents Weren’t Doing The Best Job
Not realising that my parents weren’t doing the best job raising me/preparing me for adulthood and realising I should maybe take matters into my own hands.
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134points
#13 Playing Football In High School
High school football. My doctor advised me against it but I was 14 and knew everything. Putting my body through four years of abuse was not worth what I got out of it.
Today I’m 33 and wake up with a stiff neck every day, my right shoulder has a ton of scar tissue, my elbow has a bone chip, my jaw clicks/pops if I open it too wide, and both of my knees ache when it gets too cold.
Also our team sucked.
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126points
#14 Not Seeing Women The Same As Men
Not seeing women the same as men.
Turns out, we're all people.
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123points
#15 Forcing Themselves To Fall In Love With A Girl
Forcing myself to fall in love with a girl. I didn't love her, I was in love with the idea of a girlfriend. Now to be fair, she made the same mistake. She didn't love me. It was a bad relationship.
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120points
#16 Not Being More Sociable
Not being more sociable. I’m 25 now and I have no f*****g idea how to make friends
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113points
#17 Trying To Play Negativity Off As Sarcasm
I was a rather negative person as a teenager, but tried to play it off as sarcasm instead. I somehow had grown into this weird bubble where I made fun of almost every little thing, but didn't really realize that I was also hurting my friends by doing that.
I did lots of growing up after high school, and I'm a bit sad about not keeping in touch with my old friends. They might have liked me more today than they did back then.
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109points
#18 Not Losing Kilos From The Beginning
Not losing kilos from the beginning, i know it may be sound stupid but being an overweight teenager made me become an outcast everywhere, kids and adults can be cruel and even self esteem was bad. I only lost those kilos near the end wish i did it much sooner
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109points
#19 Started Having Sex Too Young And Losing A Baby As A Child
Started having sex too young which lead to mistakes and pregnancies too young, and losing a baby as a child was too much. I’m still not sure I’ve recovered.
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105points
#20 Not Being Kind To Themselves
My biggest teenage mistake was not being kind to myself. My teenage years were some of the hardest in my life( hopefully).
Trauma after trauma, disappointment after disappointment. And i always blamed myself for them all.
It wasn't until recently i could start looking back and realized that it really wasn't my fault. I did a lot more than most would have in my situation. And that even though i had terrible teenage years, its not a reflection on who i am, but more a reflection on what i was going through.
It makes comming to terms with losing out on that part of your life much easier. And i wish i had this mindset much earlier.
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99points