We all make decisions that we later end up regretting. Some are minor or even funny while others really impact our life negatively. Have you ever wished you could go back in time? Well, these people have.
Our community members were asked to share some bad decisions they regret making, and quite a bunch of them delivered. Scroll down to do some “eavesdropping” and see if you can relate.
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Procrastinating. I wanna stop, but maybe later?
lemme try to help. if you need to do something, start it now so you wont have to later. dont overwork yourself, you can take 5-10 minute breaks if youve done a good amount of work. if you want, get a lil candy to reward yourself :)
Staying at a job too long where I was unappreciated and paid crap wages, for no good reason other than it was familiar and the prospect of leaving it was scary.
Not visiting my relatives when I was a teenager because I wanted to look "cold and distant". Now many of my amazing and loving aunts, uncles and grandparents are dead, and I would give up anything to go back in time and hug them.
"go back in time and hugged them"*, sorry for the typos
Not being able to say "no" when I should.
Try searching up some refusal skills. They help quite a lot. If you don't want to search 'em up, here are the refusal skills. 1. Say "No" in a strong voice but calmly 2. Just leave the situation 3. Suggest another idea 4. Try changing the subject
Not focusing too much on school when I should have
Stress eating, “eating my feelings”. Wish I could address my stress and anxiety better, and stop normalizing food as stress reduction.
Letting myself get used time and time again.
marrying the wrong person
Im sorry for your experience, but I'm really glad that someone out there can understand me. I'm going through a lot right now and nobody understands me. It's hard, really had. And ther is nobody, literally nobody I can talk to. It's feels like I'm drowning
Sorry for rambling, I'm a mess right now
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Been there. I was young and didn't know how to pair myself well with a perspective life mate.
Be there too. Married a Chinese woman, had a child with her and after she got her Green Card she ran off to be with a younger man, with more money and no kids. But that's ok. I kept our daughter and am raising her by myself. Best thing to happen to me is her. Anyway stay strong it gets better.
We have little to compare things to when we're young. We think behaviour we encounter is 'normal' when it is not. Some of us didn't even really believe love existed except in films and married because we 'got along' Don't do this, wait and find someone else..
As a child of two people that no longer want to be married to each other I strongly advise you to just end it. Pulling through it might help in some cases but in most cases it just harms everybody that is somehow involved in this relationship. You deserve happiness so don't torture yourself!
I did that twice, and I'll Never marry again! The last time I was married, was in 1995. We were married a year and a half, the last time. It was the worst year and a half of my life!
Been there, done that, got out and life does get better. Are you now divorced? Ramble away, you'll have support here.
Not yet. Im from India, it's a lot harder here and thanks for your support
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Been there...once you realize it and begin the exit stage it does get better
This is hard, but life is short and it seems like you know the right steps to make yourself happy!
Been there also I was in my 30s before I met the guy who was my other half. )0(
Trusting a fart after eating Mexican food.
Going to a huge 4-year uni instead of a CC. Costs were nuts and the teaching was impersonal
Not speaking my real feeling because it can sound harsh. It always ended up with me being hurt cause I’m too sensitive.
Boy, how great my life would be if I can speak it up.
When I bought my home, I put my husband on the deed even though the mortgage was in my name and my parents had given me the downpayment. He tried to get half when we divorced, but I reminded him that I paid off his student loans with my inheritance and he shut right up. I miss that house.
I hope young people here read this. So many of my friends and relatives made this same mistake. Just think seriously about the financial side of divorce before you get married or make any major decisions. Thank you for posting.
binge watching shows, and them missing them once i watched all the episodes later
Not caring about high school, I had no GPA in 11th grade. Still doing well in life but if I would have applied even anything back then who knows.
engaged in an online discussion
Arguing on the Internet is like playing chess with a pigeon. The pigeon craps all over the board and then struts around like it won.
Started "dating" too soon. It set the unstable pace for the rest of my emotional life. And led to worse decisions.
I started becoming intensely interested in boys crazy early, like third grade. I often wonder if I had managed to focus more on friends and becoming my own person, could I have avoided a lot of the emotional trauma of trying to have serious relationships so early in middle anf high school. I think I was seeking approval where it came most easily at that time. I lucked way out finding my husband and having a real, healthy partnership.
Looked for happiness and left a high paying job to do things I wanted to do like travel, write and what not.
Now I am in a role that is not just annoyingly demanding but comparatively low paying.
Nearly committing suicide
Has happened twice, and another time if i had a weapon. My mother found me disassembling razor blades to do it with once about a year ago, and around a month ago i had another incident where i REALLY wanted to but couldn't work up the nerve to just do it. i have scars from that day (testing out my weapon of choice on my wrists, which i lied aobut and claimed were papercuts). Depression is hard. I hope you feel better though, you deserve a good life.
50 years ago, I could have bought cakes of Red Seal pu’er tea in Hong Kong for about two bucks a cake. They had piles of them. Now one is worth about $300,000.
Yep 34 years ago I could have put $500 into an empty prepaid cell phone business and had mu own territory. But hey it was just a passing fad right.
Using the key once on my math homework. Now every time I can't complete it easily I get frustrated, remember how easy copying the key is, and copy it. I can not stop it's insane
Gas station sushi.
Not going to college! I wish I had pursued my dream to be an avian vet; now I don’t have the time to do it.
It's never too late! I went to college with a wonderful couple in their 60s that were working on their third degree (not meant as a pun). With online or correspondences courses available, you just need to find what works for you.
Staying with my family. My parents divorced and I stayed with mum, she overworked herself to the point where she had to retire early due to mental breakdown. Now she has crappy pension and (in her opinion) has to take care of Granny that can no longer walk. Since I started working along with attending Uni, I became far more straightforward and clearly say that I don't agree with that. She is exhausted and all she does is complain to me in the evening about everything at granny's. I love my family, they gave me and my brother what they could with the little we always had, but it's a while that I started to notice just how toxic this family actually is. Every little thing will either be ignored or start a both sided yelling fit, there is no room for healthy discussions, every time I wanted to raise a valid argument over something, it's ignored or I'm point blank told that someone like me (a stupid student that can't hold a job, I work with people, not really possible nowadays) should just shut up and leave if I don't like something and in the next breath they start to discuss when will we do the transfer of ownership of Granny's apartment (another issue altogether). I just can't, I'm exhausted, every little thing that happens at our place becomes my fault although I warned them it could happen. I just wish everything will be open again so I can at the very least escape to my job...
Trust a friend that pushed me in a lake causing me to get surgery on my foot.
Quitting a job after 20 years due to racial discrimination 🙁
Playing video games at school, I never got caught but now I can't sleep well.
Playing video games since I was 5 ...... a solid 40 years never did i cringe
I said my opinion on a character's sexuality in an anime because I think he's Bisexual (not proven and I even say that but it is a huge theory) and I started an entire war on a YouTube video with one comment that said "There is no way this character is straight"
Deciding to drive to the hospital to see my dad for the last time. I wrote the car off, thankfully was not injured but could have avoided that accident by realising I was too emotional to drive.
being born
I have days like that too. Remember people do care and it does get better!
16 when a lit agent wanted to represent my novel. I told her I could only write short stories 😂🥺
Not attending an Amy Winehouse concert because I was too hungover and really didn't want to travel an hour to the venue. I never got another chance :(
I once saw a squirrel that had somehow got the wire of a bird feeder stuck between it's two front teeth and was hanging helplessly. Without thinking I cradled it's little body and helped it free its teeth. Once free it spun round and sank it's teeth clean through the fleshy part of my palm . It then shook around for about ten seconds (absolute agony) before hurtling off up a tree. Oh how the nurse laughed as she gave me my tetanus shot!
To come to work today...
I'm going to tell myself that I'm going to play Minecraft for only 1-2 hours but i end up playing it for 5 hours
Making my bedtime too late. Now, it's really hard for me to go to sleep any earlier and I have to wake up early so I'm always tired. :|
Decided to make a curry last week. But instead of mild curry powder, put extra hot chilli powder instead. Guess I should have labled the containers. Fiance' was not happy.
accepting the job with the initial salary and not negotiating
Not studying enough
It's not too late to change this though
Agreeing to wash the whole team's rugby jerseys when they played on grass on a wet day. (Their team colours are white and Maroon)
I was accepted into a few colleges and chose the one further from home. After one year I transferred and all my credits didn’t transfer so I basically was a freshmen for 2 years due to my bad decision of just not going to the closer college in the first place.
Letting my father push me into computer science instead of graphic design when choosing a carreer path.
i decided to skip pe for a day next pe class we were doing gymnastics and it was compulsory and they practiced in the class I missed so I had a sprained foot because I missed 1 pe class
I was my blind aunt's home health aide. She berated, was rude to me, and always tried to make me feel guilty for not giving her her pain pills when she wanted them. She would put me down to her friends and never was happy with anything I did. I knew I should have quit and gotten a different job, but I stayed and let her mistreat me. That was the worst decision of my life. I still suffer from low self esteem issues from that time in my life.
This is not as unusual as you may think. The child who helps the most is usually the one disrespected, I know I have been there.
Not leaving relationships soon enough because I didn't want to go through the breakup phase.
When i didn't become friends with someone in my school. His name was lebron james.
eating lots of food
today... telling my colleagues at work that i once helped a young refugee with integration...
Spend all my money I got from my first ever job, I was trying to save up for a car but I've never had my own money so spend however I please. So it was nice to buy things I wanted (a pc, a new phone) but now I'm saving up for a car and going to be more strict about my spending habits due to the fact I really want a car. :)
That sounds like a solid plan. Try not to worry about what you've spent - you can't unspend it. Focus on enjoying your purchases instead. I did the same with my first wage but I still have the watch I bought and I love it. It kinda reminds me about what I had to do to earn it. In a good way!
Being Born.
This will pass and things will improve, try and think positive about yourself.
yeah, I can trust this fart...
Downloading Gacha-related stuff. I am too rooted in the community to ever stop. Ever. (Technically, its my sis's fault)
I was given the chance to fly a plane. I fricking hate myself for that
This isn't very clear. Did you pass it up, or accept it? And was it real, or RC?
i got a lot of em.
repeatedly breaking the trust of those i love (not like commiting a crime, more like computer when not allowed).
Not taking my meds because "i can miss it just this once" and "eh i don't have water up here" or "i'm in bed already"
Less my fault, but not telling my mother that i'm not grabbing her because i'm joking around, i'm grabbing her because i have a bad headrush. if i'd told her, i wouldn't have hit my head on the table after fainting.
Overeating.
Staying up too late.
Not studying enough.
Not taking enough notes in class.
Procrastinating.
Breaking the "take care of yourself and your mental health and don't do dangerous things" contract.
The list goes on for miles, as most of my decisions are small and bad.
Letting my dog get into my purse and letting it sniff around but instead it ate some pills, it died a week later 😭😭😭😭
Not realizing I wasn’t cut out for romantic relationships and that the real treasure was friends and family until I was nearly 30.
not having a good voice if i did i could tell my sister to not want to move at 15 beacause our parents and family can die anytime and we need to spend as much gime with them as possible and she would take me serious
Swallowing something all at once. I mean, its not that bad since I didn't choke.
Creating and using a BoredPanda account.
Bitcoin
I was on a toxic meme app for a while (it was full of racists, homophobes, transphobes ect.). I once posted something expressing myself (not a meme), big mistake. I'll tell you the full story, so, I am an insecure person, there's so many things I hate about myself and I wish I could change. I've never been open to my family about it and this was one social media platform that my family was not on. I've always kept it bottled up inside me for so long. I made a picture, just a blank picture with a text saying "when someone doesn't know how to respond to a compliment, it means they think you're lying to make them feel better, and when they compliment you it's because they don't want you to feel the same way they feel" and I posted it, on a toxic meme app...I got a lot of hate comments, only like 3 people actually cared. People were all just joking about it, but the worst thing is I actually started a huge argument because I was so pissed at these people, I was literally trying to express myself, and everyone hated me for it, and the one argument I was in was really ugly, this person kept calling me homophobic slurs and other mean stuff and then after everything calmed down they acted like it was nothing..
That's the shitty thing of internet... You will not get the response you hope for, i am sorry it backfired. But if you don't like yourself, wishing you were different, why don't you get some professional help? You don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to. It helped me, i wish i did it yeaaarsss ago. I worked so hard for others and denied my own needs and feelings, i had a massive burnout at 28. You yourself is the most important person in this world, be nice for yourself and for you to do that, you have to take care of yourself. And stop going to toxic forums, stop going to toxic anyting.
I had a college assignment that required us to compile our notes into one document. They said we could use some of each other’s notes for extra detail or incase we missed anything. I went a bit too far with copying my classmates stuff. I wasn’t thinking. We both got called in for cheating. I nearly cried. Thankfully he was a really nice teacher and let me redo the assignment.
Not being born two weeks earlier than my actual birthday. My great grandpa passed away two weeks before i was born and i honestly hate myself for it. I wish i got to meet him everyday of my life and all of my other friends like to make fun of me for not being able to meet him. They all have met theirs though.
No need to feel bad about something you weren't in control of. Also, why the hell would anyone make fun of someone not getting to meet their great grandfather? How weird are your "friends"?
Giving up when I gained weight when pregnant with my son. It resulted in me continuing to gain weight after his birth. I became depressed after my son was born, but turned it in on myself instead of getting professional help. Had I done so, I would not be obese with high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes and bad hips, back, knees. My son also probably wouldn't weigh nearly 400lbs now...both of us struggling to lose weight and get healthy. I grew up in a household where problems with in the family were not discussed outside the family. I wish I'd been able to see how much going to therapy would have helped everyone around me.
In 2010, without really understanding what it was, I was going to buy $300 worth of Bitcoin but talked myself out of it...
Yep. Me too. It was a mystery and expensive for me at the time. An older guy that was painting on the job I was working at had a whole bunch and was going to teach me how to do it. I hope he's doing well now!
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Hey Pandas, what’s a SMALL bad decision you made? (Pandas proceed to list huge life altering giant choices they made, as expected.)
Everyone deserves a voice, but some people need to learn when to stay silent.
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Tried to run away. My parents are keeping me very locked down, and I know it'd meant to be for my safety, bc I've tried to kms, but I still feel trapped in my house, and even though they're stopping me from kms, they aren't helping me not want to. Then my mom read my diary, and I was pissed. Dumbass me decided to not show up at my house after school and just started walking up the highway by my house,. I didn't really have a plan beyond getting to the city and either going to a homeless shelter or attempting to kms again. I got about a mile before I was stopped by an officer. I told him I was 19, he didn't believe me. He left and and another officer follow him, and when he asked my birthday and I said my own birthday but six years earlier, so he brought me back home. Now I'm homeschooled, but my mom said I might be able to go back next year, but some of my friends are leaving so I might never see them again. By far the dumbest and most immature decision I've ever made.
Saying no to opportunities when I wanted to say yes. But I was afraid to....look stupid, be uncomfortable, not know what I was doing.....yadda yada. Now there are things I cant do because of age and health....
To all you moaning about not getting into Crypto, my dad tracked a single share of polaroid stock for a class the month they released the instant camera. He didn't actually invest, of course... he sure wished he had. Anyway, there will always be gambles that pay big that most people will miss, and honestly I'm just as glad to not be party to the pump and dump schemes of crypto backers and I am very glad I didn't get caught holding the bag for NFT'S.
Not buying those stupid doge coins when elon musk said he was gonna send them to the moon. Watched 2 young adults get rich off rhe same exact idea i had but i didnt know enough about stock and thought it was stupid. Still not into stock because anything thats not straight game is gambling but damn do i feel like a FOOL to this day 😫😩
I should have asked for his number instead of just giving mine. There was so much going on in his life that I didn't want to push. Now I'm stuck wondering if he'll shoot me a message, if we'll meet again an if I was clear enough about how amazing he is and how much I'd like to spend time with him again
Giving up when I gained weight when pregnant with my son. It resulted in me continuing to gain weight after his birth. I became depressed after my son was born, but turned it in on myself instead of getting professional help. Had I done so, I would not be obese with high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes and bad hips, back, knees. My son also probably wouldn't weigh nearly 400lbs now...both of us struggling to lose weight and get healthy. I grew up in a household where problems with in the family were not discussed outside the family. I wish I'd been able to see how much going to therapy would have helped everyone around me.
In 2010, without really understanding what it was, I was going to buy $300 worth of Bitcoin but talked myself out of it...
Yep. Me too. It was a mystery and expensive for me at the time. An older guy that was painting on the job I was working at had a whole bunch and was going to teach me how to do it. I hope he's doing well now!
Load More Replies... Hey Pandas, what’s a SMALL bad decision you made? (Pandas proceed to list huge life altering giant choices they made, as expected.)
Everyone deserves a voice, but some people need to learn when to stay silent.
Load More Replies... Tried to run away. My parents are keeping me very locked down, and I know it'd meant to be for my safety, bc I've tried to kms, but I still feel trapped in my house, and even though they're stopping me from kms, they aren't helping me not want to. Then my mom read my diary, and I was pissed. Dumbass me decided to not show up at my house after school and just started walking up the highway by my house,. I didn't really have a plan beyond getting to the city and either going to a homeless shelter or attempting to kms again. I got about a mile before I was stopped by an officer. I told him I was 19, he didn't believe me. He left and and another officer follow him, and when he asked my birthday and I said my own birthday but six years earlier, so he brought me back home. Now I'm homeschooled, but my mom said I might be able to go back next year, but some of my friends are leaving so I might never see them again. By far the dumbest and most immature decision I've ever made.
Saying no to opportunities when I wanted to say yes. But I was afraid to....look stupid, be uncomfortable, not know what I was doing.....yadda yada. Now there are things I cant do because of age and health....
To all you moaning about not getting into Crypto, my dad tracked a single share of polaroid stock for a class the month they released the instant camera. He didn't actually invest, of course... he sure wished he had. Anyway, there will always be gambles that pay big that most people will miss, and honestly I'm just as glad to not be party to the pump and dump schemes of crypto backers and I am very glad I didn't get caught holding the bag for NFT'S.
Not buying those stupid doge coins when elon musk said he was gonna send them to the moon. Watched 2 young adults get rich off rhe same exact idea i had but i didnt know enough about stock and thought it was stupid. Still not into stock because anything thats not straight game is gambling but damn do i feel like a FOOL to this day 😫😩
I should have asked for his number instead of just giving mine. There was so much going on in his life that I didn't want to push. Now I'm stuck wondering if he'll shoot me a message, if we'll meet again an if I was clear enough about how amazing he is and how much I'd like to spend time with him again
