Unfortunately, life isn’t like a video game—you can’t reload an earlier save file whenever you make a big blunder. Whatever failures and successes you face, you have to learn to live with them and their consequences, no matter how awful or great. Some mistakes are easier to come to terms with. But others can haunt you even years or decades later.
Today, we’re featuring some older internet users’ sincere and vulnerable thoughts about their top regrets from their youth, which they shared in an online thread. Scroll down to read about their experiences and warnings, some of which might be very relatable.
Bored Panda reached out to Jodi Wellman, MAPP, for her thoughts on how we can all make better life decisions, plus how someone can feel less guilty about not having made the most of one's youth. You'll find the advice she shared with us below. Wellman is the founder of Four Thousand Mondays and the author of You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets.
#21
1) staying as a bedside nurse for 19 years and not leaving for the pharma industry sooner
2) pulling up a patient and herniating a disc in my back
3) not living with the confidence of a 50 yr old ( why so timid when I was younger ).
2) pulling up a patient and herniating a disc in my back
3) not living with the confidence of a 50 yr old ( why so timid when I was younger ).
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14points
#22
Moving to Wisconsin. I hate Wisconsin! I moved here when I married my husband as my husband lived there. Now I am disabled and stuck here.
13points
#23
1. Being more concerned with what other people thought than what I wanted.
2. Not questioning being diagnosed with anxiety and heavily medicated for years. I didn’t get my actual diagnosis until my 50s.
3. My first marriage. At least I ended it quickly.
2. Not questioning being diagnosed with anxiety and heavily medicated for years. I didn’t get my actual diagnosis until my 50s.
3. My first marriage. At least I ended it quickly.
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12points
#24
1. Smoking. Resulted in cancer (I'm better now).
2. Spending of frivolous things when I should have been saving.
3. Marrying my ex-wife. There were plenty of red flags I ignored.
2. Spending of frivolous things when I should have been saving.
3. Marrying my ex-wife. There were plenty of red flags I ignored.
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12points
#25
1. Staying at the same job for too long.
2. Accepting family members behavior and overlooking it because they are family.
3. Rushing through things and events that I thought would always be there.
2. Accepting family members behavior and overlooking it because they are family.
3. Rushing through things and events that I thought would always be there.
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12points
#26
Allowing my parents so much space / interference in my life under the guise of love.
Not maintaining a healthy weight.
Not allowing myself to do me, but trying to adjust my personality to everyone else so they would all “love” me.
Not maintaining a healthy weight.
Not allowing myself to do me, but trying to adjust my personality to everyone else so they would all “love” me.
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12points
#27
1. My first marriage.
2. Trusting my business partner.
3. Not learning more family history from my parents.
2. Trusting my business partner.
3. Not learning more family history from my parents.
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11points
#28
1. Not getting grief counseling in the 80s when I lost my parents.
2. Doing too many d***s in the late 70s and early 80s and not focusing on my schooling.
3. Letting myself become a controlling a*****e when I became the boss.
2. Doing too many d***s in the late 70s and early 80s and not focusing on my schooling.
3. Letting myself become a controlling a*****e when I became the boss.
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11points
#29
1. Quit my job, bought a van, drove around the US, spent all my retirement money ($33K). I did the math. It would be about $450K by now.
2. Got married in Vegas to a guy I'd known for about 2 months. (Divorced 2 years later!)
3. Sold my first condo. Bought for $80K, would be worth $400K now, and paid off.
4. Bonus: Quit my good government job to go back to school for a new career, which I quit after 4 years. I'd have a 20-year pension by now, or a ton in the bank, had I stuck it out either place.
2. Got married in Vegas to a guy I'd known for about 2 months. (Divorced 2 years later!)
3. Sold my first condo. Bought for $80K, would be worth $400K now, and paid off.
4. Bonus: Quit my good government job to go back to school for a new career, which I quit after 4 years. I'd have a 20-year pension by now, or a ton in the bank, had I stuck it out either place.
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10points
#30
1-Developing a drinking habit at 15yo to deal with sleep issues
2- switching to benzodiazipines to deal with sleep issues that got very severe and then becoming addicted to them and they shut down my nervous system causing me to become disabled for 8 years.
3- cant post 3.
2- switching to benzodiazipines to deal with sleep issues that got very severe and then becoming addicted to them and they shut down my nervous system causing me to become disabled for 8 years.
3- cant post 3.
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10points
In life, it's essential to learn from both our successes and mistakes. This notion aligns perfectly with the idea that some seemingly impractical concepts can potentially make the world a better place.
As discussed in an intriguing collection of unexpected ideas, exploring unconventional paths can sometimes lead to surprising insights and improvements.
