What's your biggest mistake?

[Antonio65]

What is the biggest mistake (or the most recent biggest mistake) you did and that you regret?
Have you done, or not done, anything that you regret?

Currently, my regret is having turned down a job offer that I received May 2017. When they offered me that position, I thought they were just joking, because I had no enough know-how or competence for it. But they were serious about it, as I found out later.
Anyway I kind of declined, actually I didn't decline, but didn't say yes either, because I was not that unhappy of my current job. But as months went by I realized I did a big mistake, and in this past few months I deeply regret my non-reaction to that offer.
The job I didn't accept had a lower pay, was farther from home and with fewer off days during the year, but I think, in a hindsight, I would have liked it more.

What's your regret/mistake?

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Not reaching out to an old friend/destroying the relationship. We got into a stupid argument and drifted apart. He died in prison and now I can never apologize and make amends.

It's been years since he died but I constantly think about what would have happened if we hadn't gotten into that fight.

 

[susanm9006]

I love and am very thankful to have my son but getting pregnant at 17 was a huge mistake.

 

[Elphaba09]

I would not change things because I have no idea how I would still end up where I am now and be as happy as I am if things were different, but I wish I would have left my ex-husband earlier. Specifically, I wish I would have left him the day after I was inducted into an English honors society when I was in college. (I went to college in my mid/late 20s.) I was inducted specifically for a paper I wrote on Hegelian dialectics. The night of the induction, my ex-husband was being particularly rude to me, and when he was approached by my professor, I knew things were going to get worse. She praised me and told him I was one of the most intelligent people she had ever met—at least pertaining to literary theory and analysis, mind you!—and continued to compliment me before asking him questions about himself. She asked what he did for a living. He became enraged and said, "I'm a ***** grunt worker." (He was the foreperson of a small factory making pretty good money.) He then grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the reception to our car. He then spent an hour berating me. It was that moment I knew our marriage was over; however, I stayed because he was "going through a lot of stress" and I could not bring myself to hurt him when he was down. Most of his so-called stress was the fact that I was bettering myself doing something that I loved and was exceptional at doing. His ego could not take it. Little did I know he would become a monster soon after because his ego could not handle me getting a master's degree. (He lost his mind when I was first published in a literary magazine. He never found out about the other times I was published.)

Had I left him then rather than years later when I was finishing my masters, I would not be disabled. My brain would not have been damaged by either physical or psychological trauma. (My memory is bad, and I often struggle with words.) My children would have been spared emotional trauma. I would still be able to dance and walk normally. So many other horrible things would not have happened. But, it was because of the abuse that I selected the specific university for my master's. It was at that university that I met my now-husband while doing some research in the library. If I had left when I should have, before everything, I would not have my home and my 12 cats. My children would not be in the positions that that are in life. My son would not have met his wonderful fiancee and bought a house with her. My daughter would not have her son, my sweet Hobbit. As much pain as I went through, that I continue to go through, my life is happier than I could ever have imagined.

 

[Elphaba09]

Not reaching out to an old friend/destroying the relationship. We got into a stupid argument and drifted apart. He died in prison and now I can never apologize and make amends.

It's been years since he died but I constantly think about what would have happened if we hadn't gotten into that fight.

I hope you can forgive yourself for this. I can only imagine how you must feel.

My best friend is in prison.

 

[Lari]

I would not change things because I have no idea how I would still end up where I am now and be as happy as I am if things were different,

That's kind of how I feel. There are definitely things I regret, but I'm in a pretty good place right now and I feel like each domino had to be in place to get here, so I'm not sure what I would actually change.

 

[strider rose]

my mistake was getting married at 22 years old to someone i barely knew

 

[NY cat man]

I have more than a few regrets in life, but all in all, I wouldn't change anything, because of the 'butterfly effect'. For instance, if I had gone to college to become a teacher, I wouldn't have joined the military when I did, thus wouldn't have been home on leave for my sister's wedding; wouldn't have been in that bar that night; and wouldn't have met the woman who I married 2 years later, and to whom I still am, for going on 49 years now.
Since I don't have access to a time machine, I choose to look to the future, as I can't do anything about the past.

 

[game misconduct]

my biggest mistake(one of them) was all the time wasted spent in jails and prisons when i could have been a better son for my parents sake and myself. so much time lost with familybut my mom passed knowing my life was changed for the better and i was/still a free man other one was not leaving my previous gf sooner than i did cant say it was a waste of 5 years since i learned exactly what i dont want in a woman. thats life though live and learn its only insanity when you make the same choices thinking you can get different results

 

[MonaLyssa33]

My biggest regret is not dropping out of college sooner. I was so depressed during that time and I was always on academic probation for poor grades. I was an excellent student in high school but got completely overwhelmed by college and didn't have the coping skills to handle it. If I dropped out 2 years earlier, I would be in significantly less debt than I am now. It took me a total of 8 years to finally get my bachelor's degree. I'm currently working on my master's degree (one semester left!) and it's really shown me that I am actually a good student and my undergrad years were really just a result of my brain not being healthy.

Another regret of mine is that I wasn't more socially involved in my teens and 20s. I didn't have my first date until I was 27 and my first kiss until I was 29. I'm definitely a late bloomer, but again, I attribute that to not having a healthy brain for 11 years so I had a lot more important things I had to deal with.

 

[maggiedemi]

My only regret in life is not going to college. Because with a college degree, I certainly wouldn't be living with my insane mother, I would have my own washing machine, and life would be perfect. But hopefully I'll find another way out and live a few good, happy, clean years before I die.

 

[denice]

Dropping out of college. I think if I had taken a year or two to live on my own without the degree I would have taken it more seriously and finished. At 18 I knew nothing about the hard reality of life or what I wanted to major in and what I wanted to do. A couple of years to grow up and figure a few things out would have made all the difference. Like now I know that a degree in anything is better then no degree, just pick something and finish.

 

[muffy]

My biggest regret is not having knee replacement surgery 12 years ago when I first started having promblens. The last orthopedic I went to would not do the surgery because he said my knees were shot. He is sending me to a doctor that may do the surgery. I can't walk and if this doctor won't help then I will be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life.