Hey Pandas, What’s The Biggest Mistake You Have Ever Made? (Closed)

Was in a dark gay bar and noticed a guy checking me out. I was going to do a casual walk-by to see if he was worth my time; he went to do the same. But we kept doing that step-from-side-to-side thing to keep bumping into one another as we made our approach. We got within 5 feet of one another and I realized... I was walking towards a mirror. I'd been hitting on myself for the last 20 minutes. Honestly tho: he wasn't my type...

My biggest mistake was being promiscuous and needing the attention of boys to feel accepted, wanted, and needed.

Not continuing my education hence I'm in a job I dislike. I moved out of my mothers home at 19 due to a volatile mother. I was not a self motivator so not thinking I could work AND go to school, I've had more jobs I hated than liked. I'm close to retiring so that's something I am really looking forward to. For those young ones out there; DO CONTINUE YOUR EDUCATION even if it's just to get an Associates degree. Looking back, I should have gone to a trade school.

Not making time to look after myself and deal with my own emotions when my mom got taken sick. For seven months I bottled in everything I was feeling (fear, depression, anxiety, self loathing) and just focused on making sure she was okay. Once she was, I had a mental breakdown and it’s taken two years of therapy, tablets and a pinch of hypnotherapy to find myself and be happy again. Moral of the story; no matter what is going on, don’t put your feelings on the back burner. Find an outlet, validate them and don’t be ashamed of them.

Hid the fact that I had undiagnosed SEVERE Depression from anyone I knew. That was the worst time of my life

Falling in love with and marrying a man who was a criminal. And a cheater.

Taking Tae Kwon Do. I have been doing it for 6 years and it has only made me realize how sexist and misogynistic men are. When I started I was under the impression that I would be learning to defend myself outside of the classroom, but apparently I would have to learn to defend myself inside the classroom as well. As one of the few girls in the class I was often paired with boys to learn self defenses, which often requires them to hug me and attack me. Most of the boys in the class used this opportunity to touch me inappropriately and make me generally uncomfortable. My instructor clearly saw what they were doing and said nothing, and I never told anyone for I feared they wouldn't care just as my instructor didn't. I had to work twice as hard as the boys in my class to get to my next belt and I watched boys that had started only a few weeks prior getting belt recommendations when I had to wait four months before even wondering when I would be recommended. I was forced to toughen up and defend myself against the boys in my class and the positive easy-going kid I used to be died when I first stepped into that building. I kept going to class because I was taught that giving up was a sign of weakness, and to give up was the worst mistake I could make. In the end not giving up was my worst mistake. I am still taking Tae Kwon Do and will be getting my black belt next month. Continuing Tae Kwon Do was my worst mistake and my best decision as it forced me to realize the harsh reality of being a woman in this day and age, and I just wish I didn't have to learn it the hard way.

Putting myself aside to make others happy.

I took a karate class. To warm up, we had to take a running jump over some pads. I had never made it over four pads, but I thought today was the day. It wasn't, and I broke my arm.

Getting married at eighteen, to someone who I knew had already cheated on me several times, and staying married through at least three other affairs, because I thought it was the right thing to do to forgive her - to be the understanding, loving one. She just resented me for the guilt she felt. Fortunately, the experience didn't lead me to hate women - just her.

I was born and raised in California, and even out in the sticks where I lived, beauty was sharply defined: tan, blonde or brunette and nice-looking in a bikini. I'm a pasty, red-haired and freckled bookworm who always had some extra weight. I was the only redhead in town. I was bullied mercilessly for being an ugly freak.

I believed them. I didn't know better, all I knew was what I saw, and I saw that I was different and "not pretty" by the cultural standards. I wasted a lot of my youth hating myself for being a freak. I was extremely depressed from the first grade on, wishing I was dead.

When I was 14, my family got sick of my moping and sent me to Cincinnati to stay with some relatives for the summer. For the first time in my life I saw more redheads in an environment where they were pretty normal, even entire families of redheads. I was stunned. I wasn't the only one in the world, after all! In one afternoon of people watching at the mall, I felt like the clouds had finally parted.

I've always regretted how much I hated myself back then. I'm 55 now and still preach the gospel about not letting society define you; give yourself the worth that you deserve. I ESPECIALLY preach that to my red-haired kids!

My biggest mistake was trusting someone blindly and making him the center of my world. The price I paid - anxiety, depression and total loss of confidence.

My biggest mistake would be when I was around 20 years old I got invited to a party in a pub that was going on 'after hours'. There were plenty class A narcotics flying around as well as some of the lesser kind. I got absolutely smashed off my face and must have passed out at some point. I woke up the next morning in the upstairs accommodation, naked from the waist down, feeling rough and in some pain (in sensitive areas). I can't say I was raped because I wasn't conscious so I just don't know. Every day since, I have wished that I hadn't gone to that damn party. Every day. I have never told anyone about this, even my therapist. It feels good to get it out though anonymously. Thank-you.

I was bullied in third grade. I didn’t tell anyone. So they thought they could pick on me in fourth grade. And then by fourth grade the bullies were teacher’s pets. So no one except my parents believed I was getting bullied. Elementary School is now ruined for me.

Didn't go to see a doctor on time cuz I "never had time". 12 years later, today, I've been suffering for 4 months from lower abdominal pain nobody can even diagnose and each new doc appointment take at least 2 weeks. ALWAYS ALLOCATE TIME FOR YOUR HEALTH.

Had a breakdown in college, spent 6 months in a mental hospital and gave up on my education

This is a second one:
Another one if my big mistakes was trusting peta

Honestly, this is more of a regret, but I wish I had studied better when I was a kid.

So I have a really messy room and when I moved out of the house to go to college we were packing up and I found a molded cup about 1 year old worth of coffee and I went to go throw it in the woods and ran into my lil sister and it went all in her hair........... I felt sooooo bad oops. She ended up putting horseradish in my shoes????

Trusting my "best friend" of over 20 years. I still can't fathom how anyone could end up so cruel after knowing and loving and even raising kids together. We met the summer before 8th grade and went through everything together. I cut the chord of her son while the dirt bag sperm donor was too busy getting high to be on time. We were roomates, we cried together, laughed together everything. Then in a blink of an eye everything changed. She went from being my confidant to owing me 5,000 dollars (plus) and when I finally let that anger go and decided our friendship was worth more she did the ultimate unforgivable thing. I won't go into details here because it was that bad but let's just say if she had gotten away with it she would've not only ruined mine and my children's lives she would've ruined other lives involved as well. She has already cost me some of my other family and friends because of this. Lets just say everything ended up turning out alright. But I don't know if I'll ever trust anyone again the way I trusted her. ( I also doubt I will ever get those family / friends back... which is funny because most of them didn't like her anyhow but sure did believe the spew of lies that came out so I guess I don't need those people either.)