Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
60 Absurd Decisions Folks Have Made That Absolutely Ruined Their Life
‘Look before you leap’ seems to exist only because humans are wired to make dumb decisions and sometimes need reminders to think things through. Still, so many folks act on impulse, and they don’t seem to realize that the consequences can be brutal.
It’s tough to know exactly what choices can lead to what outcomes, but some paths tend to be universally considered the “wrong” ones to take. That’s exactly what folks in this list are trying to warn one another about, and some of the examples given might actually surprise you.
This post may include affiliate links.
RELATED:
#2
Living the constrained ideals of an organized religion which narrows their world view and blinds them to the kaleidoscope of human perception, ideas, and beliefs.
#3
Crippling debt.
Get in an argument with your friend, it goes away in a day or two, get a cold, get some meds, bad weather, it will pass. But debt eats at you until it’s gone. You wake up with it, go to bed with it, and carry that weight, like a mountain on your shoulders, all d**n day.
Being able to make the payment, doesn’t mean you can afford it. Big houses, luxury cars, toys, all that, financed to the moon. Living withjn your means, only way to do it.
Michael Largey 1 month ago
These days one can be quite frugal and still experience crippling debt. In fact, the system is designed that way.
It might seem absolutely crazy, but the average adult apparently makes almost 35,000 decisions every single day, so the next time you lie about not having any time, maybe it’s because of the long list of things you’re trying to decide. According to mental wellness experts at Verywell Mind, just because folks have to make so many choices each day doesn’t mean they'll all be a hit.
You'll likely look back on some decisions and wonder why you went down that path, and those thoughts can lead to regret. Despite that, it’s important to keep learning from the choices, even if they don’t turn out the way you want them to.
#4
Gambling. With the amount of gambling ads and normalization of it in today’s society. We are about to see lives ruined on the scale of d**g usage.
#5
Texting while driving, same as drunk driving. We forget how dangerous it is to be hurling down the road encased in a ton of glass and steel.
Disgruntled Panda 1 month ago
Instantly have zero respect for anyone who does this. If it was just your own life you're playing with I wouldn't care...
#6
Mismanaging their finances and not preparing for retirement.
Just because some of the decisions you make turn into a mess doesn’t mean that you are one. In fact, there’s a lot happening under the surface that you might not even be aware of. According to Anne-Laure Le Cunff, who explores the neuroscience of curiosity, our emotions might actually be calling the shots.
She shared that studies found that fearful people often made pessimistic judgments about the future, whereas angry people tended to be more optimistic. Even though we might not be aware of it, the feelings in our body that are associated with emotions like anxiety, nausea, or disgust tend to act as guides for how we should behave. So, even if we think we’re being completely rational, a strong emotion could turn the tide of our decision completely.
#7
Leaving a loving home for a hot fling.
#8
Letting greed and power consume them, and not being content with simple things.
Michael Largey 1 month ago
The catch is that greed and power are themselves often simple things.
Dumb decisions like the ones mentioned on this list can also happen simply because someone feels overwhelmed. Experts at Quanta Magazine, who are dedicated to advancing the frontiers of scientific research, explain that our decision-making machinery can get thrown off, especially when we are presented with too many options.
This is clear if you look at how the world works, where streaming platforms, delivery services, and social media offer so many options for us to keep consuming. With so many decisions to make, sometimes our brains might pick the most convenient or novel one, even if it’s not the best idea to do so.
#10
Drunk driving.
#11
Marry someone they don’t actually love.
#12
Having an affair. This applies to those who actually regret it and feel remorse. It will live with you forever that you made the conscious choice to betray your partner. Not only that, you have to deal with the pain you caused the other person and how much your choices have now affected them.
It might seem like the toughest thing to always keep making the perfect decisions, and that might be kind of an impossible feat. If you’re still holding out hope, there's a life hack you can try to make high-priority choices go well. Research states that the best way to do this is to make big decisions when you have a lot of energy.
This can help you avoid the fatigue that comes from always having to choose. That’s why you should probably not wait till the end of the day when you are extremely tired to weigh in on something important. This can also help during the workday if you schedule meetings and discussion calls earlier in the day rather than later, so everyone is at their sharpest.
#13
Listening to manosphere influencers.
#14
Hitting reply all on a company wide email to roast the boss's new haircut 💀.
#15
Resisting arrest and escalating the situation from a $50 fine to a felony.
Most of us feel that every decision about ourselves has to be made in isolation, without help or input from anyone else. Unfortunately, this can lead us to make the same mistakes over and over again. That’s why Scott Mautz, who’s an expert on mental health, mentioned asking other people for their opinions, especially if you’ve come to a standstill on your choice.
This kind of collaborative decision-making can have a huge impact in groups where everyone has a chance to share their input, leading to far more ideas. In our own lives, this could mean getting another perspective on something we are struggling with, which could help guide us onto the right path.
#16
Freaking out on a plane and becoming clown of the week when the footage drops.
#17
Not ruin but make a lot more difficult, unnecessary purchases on credit. Have a family member who wracked up $50,000 in credit card debt across multiple cards because he spent it on vacations + buying stupid stuff because he thought he was smarter than everyone else and could flip it. For example, he bought a car on an online auction with a credit card for $5,000 because he as convinced he could sell it for $10,000. He called my brother who owns a dealership first and was advised it was a bad idea. He did it anyway and a year later the thing sits in his driveway because no one will buy it from him. Both him and his wife already had a good running vehicle. He also bought a bunch of sports memorabilia he bought at auction that he thought he could sell easily but it’s stuff that there are likely thousands of and again, no one wants to buy it from him.
Jane Doe 1 month ago
People think it's easy. "I'll buy a house and flip it." "I'll buy collectibles and sell them." They don't understand it's a job.. Those house flippers have a network of people and get deals on labor and materials. Those collectibles dealers travel, research, spend and lose money as much as they make it. It's a full time job.
#18
Choosing to marry someone when they already know the person is "bad with money", "can't keep a job", and/or "has a lot of credit card debt".
Similarly, marrying someone they know/suspect has already cheated on them.
Even if you’ve ever made the wrong decision, do not despair; there is always a way to make things right. Connie Podesta, who’s an expert keynote speaker with an uncanny insight into human nature, explains that if you’ve made a mistake, it’s best to accept responsibility for it right away rather than making excuses.
If you keep avoiding your role in the decision, you might not learn from it or understand how to do better next time. That’s why getting rid of any excuses can help free you and then propel you toward better choices and opportunities in the future.
#19
Women who keep having kids with guys who are obviously OBVIOUSLY not gonna stick around. I never understand it.
#20
I think the dumbest way someone can ruin their life is to not take care of themselves. Whether it be physically or mentally. I think each can make life significantly more difficult to experience. I also think surrounding yourself with bad people can also ruin your life.
#21
Be on parole and still do dumb s**t.
Wonky Donkey 1 month ago (edited)
I can only speak from a UK perspective because I've worked with offenders, but the criminal justice system sets newly released prisoners up to fail. They often have little to no support network, apart from a few "friends" who are basically just people they use/drink with. If eligible they'll get released with a measly £76 discharge grant, which is supposed to last them until their claim for UC is processed, which takes six weeks. The housing crisis means they often have nowhere to go or if they're lucky they'll be given a room in a shared house with other people who have just got out of prison. Many prisoners are getting opiate substitute medication so on the day they're released, they'll have to go to their community d**g service to sort that out before they do anything else. Many prisoners are released on Fridays, which means they'll not be able to access a lot of services until Monday. With that in mind, it's really no wonder that so many resort back to petty crime straight away.
All of these dumb decisions could have been impulsive, or they could be choices folks kept making over and over again. If it seems like you can’t stop yourself from making the wrong decision, researchers from Walden University explain that taking some time to think before you go ahead with a choice could actually be beneficial.
This is because impulse decisions might be strongly connected to and influenced by our emotions, so this may not always be the best route to take. If it’s possible for you to wait a bit and then make your choice, this could give you time to research, consult others, and also clear your head.
#22
Ruining a good opportunity because you were too lazy to take it seriously.
Svenne O'Lotta 1 month ago
No such thing as lazy, there's always a reason. Low self esteem, self sabotage, executive functions not functioning, anxiety creating avoidant behavior, lack of coping skills. There's always always a reason.
#23
Not fixing your trauma (dumb is too harsh a word, but if you don’t deal with trauma, at some point trauma will deal with you).
#24
Looking at CP chat rooms on a plane and getting fired from your Wheel of Fortune job.
Humans have the complete freedom to pick any path they’d like in life, but some choices just seem so obviously fraught with difficulties that it’s a wonder folks still keep ignoring the red flags. Hopefully, this list makes it clear which big life decisions could be a trap, so you can choose the best path for yourself.
Do you know of any dumb choices folks have made that turned their lives upside down? Do share those examples or stories with us in the comments below.
#25
Perhaps doing some kind of internet challenge or road rage. people are saying d***s, gambling, crime, but i believe these are a bit context dependent, as the reasons aren't guaranteed to be about a lack of intelligence but more about sad circumstances.
#26
Getting rid of all of their friends even the good ones and finding a terrible group of people.
weatherwitch 1 month ago
That can be influence, not believing in yourself, poor decision making from inexperience, falling in with the wrong crowd 😔
#27
Being consumed by hate.
#28
Get a******d to gambling. Money in the bank now, gone in days or hours. Saw that once in a Casino, guy totally lost it (money and mind), pretty sad to see.
#30
Sending their SSN to a scammer.
#31
Doing something dangerous for social media likes.
A lot of people have ended up d**d or seriously/permanently injured that way, such as the five teenagers in Ireland who recently d**d because they thought it would be a good idea to drive the wrong way down a motorway at 3am, leaving the four occupants of the car that had been coming the other way seriously injured.
#32
D***s.
I knew a successful guy who got into d***s and destroyed his entire life. He lost his house and family, and then he destroyed every personal connection who tried to help. One of the saddest things I've seen in my life. He used to be my hero.
#33
Being unfaithful to someone you claim to love more than anything in the world and being sneaky behind their back seeking out others and knowing your partner would never ever do something like that. That is the worst.
#34
Staying with the dangerous and hot boyfriend. Started a long line of bad decisions.
#35
Marrying or dating the wrong person.
Wonky Donkey 1 month ago
This one is easier said than done. Someone might think that the person they're marrying is right for them at the time, but then they may grow apart for a variety of reasons and become no longer compatible. In an ideal world couples would grow together, but this isn't an ideal world.
#36
**Making one stupid decision because of a temporary emotion, then doubling down on it because of pride**.
Michael Largey 1 month ago (edited)
If pride is important to you, work on being proud of your ability to admit your own mistakes.
#37
Pushing the good people around you away.
#38
Being peer pressured into doing something.
#39
Coldplay couple. That clip is still funny every time.
#41
For women specifically, dating the jerk everyone tells you to stay away from.
#42
Heavy debt.
KitchenToto 1 month ago
The problem is sometimes people are forced into debt for no fault of their own . Due losing their job or in the USA having to pay for health care or rent going up
#43
Tell your manager or senior management “GO F YOURSELVES I QUIT” that’s a permanent career altering moment.
#44
Any type of crime. Its not worth it.
Michael Largey 1 month ago
Civil disobedience can be - in the face of government a***e like ICE.
#46
Falling in love with a horrible monster creature.
#47
Consciously starting an a*******n.
Not working on obvious problems.
Not thinking about being mortal.
#49
Having an affair, especially if you have kids. It's extremely destructive to oneself and those closest to you.
#50
Joining the military.
Wonky Donkey 1 month ago
It depends. My son is in the Royal Navy, and he loves it. He gets to live with friends, travel, and gets paid a decent salary with great career prospects. Most of his friends are at university and will probably graduate with huge debts and no job to go to.
#51
Taking a dangerous "perfect" selfie.
#56
Self-hatred. You'll only have you at the end of the day, might as well be friends with it.
#57
Screen time when outside is right there. Pick up disc golf get social.
#59
Ride a motorcycle. We call them organ donors in the ER.
What do you think ?
Lauren Caswell 1 month ago
Not speaking up when something is wrong or you need help. Doubling down or burying your head inevitably makes it worse. Sure, some may not help but many actually will. Struggling with a bill? Don't ignore it, call them.
Miriam Insidecor 1 month ago (edited)
Exactly. Hiding from debt just makes it worse and harder to overcome.
Load More Replies...
Lauren Caswell 1 month ago
Not speaking up when something is wrong or you need help. Doubling down or burying your head inevitably makes it worse. Sure, some may not help but many actually will. Struggling with a bill? Don't ignore it, call them.
Miriam Insidecor 1 month ago (edited)
Exactly. Hiding from debt just makes it worse and harder to overcome.
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
