Things You Regret Not Doing Earlier In Life

[Mrs. Silvercrest]

I wish I had kept up with singing in a choir. I tried last year and my voice was awful and I can't do the high notes anymore and now I am an alto. Plus I really hurt my throat and couldn't talk for two days after we sang. And well I had a hard time with everything don't recall how to read music and I have no rthym in my voice anymore.

 

[Velocity]

I always wanted to play the piano, but my parents didn't have one and by the time my husband inherited his family piano, my hands were an arthritic mess.

 

[Awesome Possum]

I wish I had had the courage to come out in my teens/early 20’s. Still haven’t really done it, IRL at least. It’s not even really about telling people but rather not caring if someone knows.

Me too, because I knew back then and wanted to. But I was afraid that no one would accept me, especially my family. Turns out my friends did without question and my family remains awful. I wasted so many years, but that’s over now.

If I had any advice don’t let others hold you back. It’s your life, you owe it to yourself to be who you are. The people who care for you will still be there for you and you’ll feel a sense of relief like you’ve never known.

 

[Miss Lemon]

I somewhat regret not taking a gap year and going abroad before attending college. Somehow there has never been a good moment again to leave everything behind and live abroad for a while.

 

[Armus]

I also regret not taking a break between high school and college. I didn't appreciate the privilege of higher education then because I was too ignorant of the world at that time.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I somewhat regret not taking a gap year and going abroad before attending college. Somehow there has never been a good moment again to leave everything behind and live abroad for a while.

I always encourage people who are young and get such opportunities to grab them, I don't think we realize how filled up life gets later. Do crazy things before you get too sensible!

 

[Finn]

I've got one. I really wish I had asked my doctor(s) how the hormone I needed for my "delayed puberty" would affect my ability to have a kid. Sure, I was quite young when I started (high school), but I don't know why it wasn't brought up...

I'm not thrilled with how I was well into thirties when I was told by a doctor that the hormone treatment I had taken would hurt the chances of having a kid especially several years after getting married...


Seriously...WTF

 

[Gryffindorian]

Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too few to mention.

 

[Riker'sMailbox]

I don't regret much. I guess I wish I took my studies more seriously when I was getting my undergrad degree. Still content with where I wound up, but I had the brains to do something much more challenging than I am.

 

[Mrs. Silvercrest]

I wish I had had a cat when I was really young and could have grown up with it.

 

[auntiehill]

I wish I had found or developed a more useful job skill that would've allowed me to be more independent.

 

[Mojochi]

Probably just wish I'd learned how to eat smart earlier. Only ever had bad role models, & never really figured out just how much of health, weight & condition is affected by dietary choices alone, until I was about 40.

 

[Silvercrest]

I've spent the last few years learning to let go of my regrets, because dwelling on them resulted in a cycle of shame and recrimination that ate me alive for years. There are plenty of things I would've liked to do differently, but generally my choices were the best ones possible given my (unique) priorities and my (skewed) understanding of the world. Maybe I should've chosen differently. But under the circumstances, I couldn't. Therefore.

There are still plenty of cases where I chose badly and paid for it, but very few of them had serious long-term impact.

• Those without long-term impact are not worth dwelling on now — with the possible exception of wishing I'd kept in touch with a few guys from the Army. It happened. Move on.
• Those that had impact are "a learning experience". Do better next time.
• In each case, I've had some chances to go back and resolve past mistakes, and generally I feel better for it.

 

[Spot's Meow]

It's a tough question, because there are some things I wish had gone differently, but looking back I don't know how I could have made different choices. Some of it was out of my control (like things that my parents did that I wish they hadn't). And with other things, making a different choice would have totally flown in the face of who I was (and in some ways still am) as a person, or would have made life much more difficult for me. Often the things that I wish were different were not really my choices to make at the time. On the one hand it's nice to not feel a lot of personal regret and guilt, but on the other hand it's frustrating to feel like so much is just based on luck or other people's poor choices. It doesn't feel fair. I know, life's not fair.

So I don't really have regrets...but I am left to wonder how things may have turned out better if I had had the right role model or guidance at the right time.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

saying no

 

[Delta Vega]

saying no

A major problem for me when I had a previous life / group of "friends"
Always bent over backwards to please others, gave people an inch, they took the mile
I think back now and wonder wtf I was on that I couldn't see I was being played

 

[rhubarbodendron]

yep, same here. There are a lot of people who, if you give them your little finger, take not only the whole hand but the arm and attached body. It is important to block off such parasites and to learn to stand up for one's rights and needs. Saying no is important to protect you from burnout. Else you have the survival chances of an egg under a steamroller.

 

[sevenstars]

Getting rich.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I wish I'd had the nerve to meet the man who's now my boyfriend sooner.

 

[AmbreP]

Trusting my doctor in college when I knew something was wrong after she have me an overdose of the antibiotic zithromax which triggerd my autoimmune called Ulcerative Colitis UC. Maybe if I had been able to go to a specialist sooner I would not have almost died twice and lost a year of my memory...that I cannot remember. I probably would have been able to get those endorsements my teachers would have given me to ILM internship so I would have worked in making effects for things like Star Trek. Two of my college instructors worked at ILM on the Trek TV shows. But I didn't die like my doctors expected.....and I was able to take care of my mother while she died of cancer.....which I never would have been able to do otherwise.

Hindsight is always a B(*%^