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People Are Sharing The Things They’d Learned Too Late In Life, And These 51 Ones Are Eye-Opening
We go to school to learn about how the world works. Unfortunately, some lessons we can learn only the hard way – by experiencing them firsthand. Then, at the end of our lives, we can only regret the things we did or didn't do.
In 2011, researchers at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management asked people about their biggest regrets, and most adults talked about their love lives. Other areas where people wished they had learned crucial life lessons earlier were family interactions, education, careers, finances, and parenting, respectively.
Bored Panda has gathered some advice from two online threads where people shared the things they now wish they had known earlier in life. Some focused on health, and others on relationships, but most agree – these are the things most of us should know as we go through life.
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#1
That time is the only non-replenishable resource. You can make more money, you can find new friends and relationships, but if you waste years of your life not living the way you want to live, those years are gone forever.
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#3
You are influenced by everything you surround yourself with, be it people, hobbies, or environment. Therefore, choose wisely.
#5
You cannot help another person, if they are not ready to receive help.
Reemerger 2 weeks ago
And some people's problems go beyond what a friend can help with. An ex-gf has substantial psychological issues and I had to concede that I cannot help to solve them. We continue as friends, because she is a great person. She is still seeking the right treatment for herself.
#7
Don't take your health for granted.
#8
Not too late but the fact that nobody actually cares that much about you is liberating. Stop being so nervous!
#9
Cut your losses.
Don't cling to a mistake just because you've spent a lot of time and effort making it.
#10
Tell people you love them. Ask them questions about their life. Listen to their stories. Connect, even when it's hard, even when you're a teenager who thinks 'they know better'. Cause someday you wake up and you have a hundred questions you wish you asked them before they were gone and a hundred things you should have told them while they were here.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 2 weeks ago
My grandmother had great stories. Then again, when she was young, she was rather wild! 😂
#11
Just talk to her, you have a much better chance than you think.
WindySwede 2 weeks ago
And remember not to gift her a rice cooker for christmas? As stated in other post here on BP today.
#12
Just because someone tells you something in a soft supportive tone, doesn't mean they are actually supporting you.
#13
Friends in high school are not as Important as you think they are.
Chich the witch 2 weeks ago
Especially when you get some more years under your belt and realise that some HS 'friends' were actually twats.
#14
That all people are flawed and I need to figure out what kind of person I want to be for myself, instead of just emulate someone I idolize.
#15
Nobody has a clue. Most people have insecurities and problems and are too busy worrying about their own to give a care about your minor mess ups.
#16
That I'm smarter than everyone said I was. When I was little I was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome and immediately placed in special ed classes. My parents thought I couldnt do homework so for about 10 years they did 90% of all my homework. Around my junior or senior year of high school I decided I want to try and do my own work to see if I could. I passed with all C's. After graduating I tried to enter the military but because of my diagnosis I was told I couldn't. I decided after that to try community college. I struggled at first but learned for to properly study and use time management and passed school with a degree in CADD with a 2.6 GPA. Looked for a job, but ended up working at a factory where I gained confidence in myself and enrolled at a university. Currently I am 24 and a college softmore with a 3.2GPA and tons of student loan debt. Not a day goes by that I don't think about where I would be if i had just done my own work in school.
#17
To stop caring of what people think.
Particularly people I don't know/care about. I value the opinions of my family/friends (somewhat).
SchadenFreudian Psychology 2 weeks ago
You need to care what other people think, up to a point. Care enough to not be an åsshole. But don’t let yourself get obsessed with worrying about what they think.
#18
If you let people take advantage of you they will.
Multa Nocte 2 weeks ago
Some people, not all people. If everyone around you is taking advantage of you, it's time to look for new friends. If the new friends also start taking advantage of you, you need to look inside.
#20
All of my anxiety and problems were caused by the amount of alcohol I was drinking to escape my anxiety and problems.
I'm glad I worked it out but I wish it had been 20 years earlier.
#21
Most of the people realize too late in their life about how important the old persons around us (especially our parents) are.
Multa Nocte 2 weeks ago
Each generation says terrible things about the older generation and then all of the sudden it is them. It all comes back around.
#23
To not spend so much of my life running in circles justifying other people's poor treatment of me. I thought it was just something I needed to be less sensitive of, that everyone has different motivations & if someone has his reasons I could work out a way that made it ok. Nope. I can decide that their motivations don't mean anything, and nope right out if they can't correct it when I tell them how they've hurt me.
#24
Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.
#26
You can't wait for opportunity. You have to find and grasp it. Nobody gets what they deserve, they get what they think they're worth.
Zig Zag Wanderer 2 weeks ago (edited)
Absolutely. God favours the brave (opportunist). And there is a tide, taken... Etc. Don't wait for things to happen. Make them happen if they're not happening. Very often the universe goes along with it anyway.
#28
Your thoughts make up your universe. They always matter.
WindySwede 2 weeks ago
Also, they are just thoughts , they are not reality so don't listen to much to them!
#29
All the middle-aged people complaining about their bodies? Yeah, that's real and i should have worked harder to stop it. My back hurts at 29.
#30
That high school and school in general is just practice with dealing with people very different than you are.
#32
Excelling in my chosen career came at a cost to my family. The better course for me would have been to forgo that big promotion so I could spend more time with my kid when he was young. The money wasn't worth it, looking back.
#33
Time flies - make the most if it.
Take calculated risks.
#35
That just because you might be the most talented, doesn't mean that you'll succeed. You also need to build relationships with people that are willing to help you succeed.
#37
How young I still am.
#39
"Keeping your options open" is a terrible idea. Just pick one thing to become amazing at, and stick with it. When I was young, I wanted to keep my options open. Now i'm old, and I'm pretty good at a hell of a lot of things, but great at nothing. Life's too short to explore all those other options anyway. Just pick something and pour your heart into it.
It's as true with romance as it is with your career.
#40
No one will like me until I like myself.
Multa Nocte 2 weeks ago
This is not always accurate, although you generally stand a better chance.
#41
Dont burn bridges. Ever. Networking is how you go up faster than other people do in life.
Bartlet for world domination 2 weeks ago
Never mind how fast other people go. You may not even want to go up. Just choose wisely which bridges to burn.
#42
Having a social life matters, the value of dedicated saving, the need for regular exercise, and picking up an acceptable hobby.
#43
Finding someone to love and share your life with means wading through a sea of rejection, friendzones, getting stood up and breakups. Unfortunately I bought into the idea of "the one" and would let these setbacks devastate me far more than it should have.
I kinda wish I hadn't given up on it so early in life but on the other hand so far I've met a few very interesting people and made some great friendships so far getting back into it at this stage in my life and quickly making up for lost time.
Data1001 2 weeks ago
One caveat to this: You don't necessarily need to find someone to spend the *rest* of your life with. That's a lot of pressure to put on them, and on yourself. Just take it a day at a time... it *might* last forever, or it might not last. Shorter-term (but still healthy and happy) relationships are no less valid than long-term ones. Don't get stuck in that mindset. No decision needs to be a 'forever' decision -- it can just as well be a decision that is good for 'right now'.
#44
It's never too late.
#45
That I really could do anything that I put my mind towards.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 2 weeks ago
That idea got me in trouble. I kept trying to do things I just was never going to be good at, to the detriment of the time and energy I could have put into really excelling in the one or two things I am good at.
#46
Schools actually not for fools.
#47
Its not what you know, its who you know.
Even better, I was actually raised to believe that people who use their social connections to be successful are cheats, incompetent, etc.
#48
Should have just chose the college that is in my area instead of going so far away.
#49
I probably could have dated in high school but at 26 and never even kissed a girl (so now I don't know how) I think that ship has sailed.
#50
God isn't real and I'm wasting my time worshipping a fantasy.
I need to be the best teacher I will ever have. I can learn anything if I want. I can focus myself and change my brain.
Ethics matter labels are irrelevant.
I am only limited by my imagination not my past.
Physically I can become whatever I want.
A man becomes what he thinks about all day long.
I won't die without a woman.
I wont die without friends.
The silence is not fatal but ignorance is.
I have a responsibility to push my life to the edge of the possible not just have kids and pawn off the responsibility for growth and self-development onto the next generation.
#51
Bitcoin. Yeah yeah....its going to go up, I get that. But the days where is was $0.05 instead of where its at now. AND I KNEW ABOUT IT!
What do you think ?
AuspiciousTree283 2 weeks ago
How meaningless argumentative discourse is. A good and deep discussion on topics and causes can help change minds, but the moment you become patronizing, all your credibility is thrown out the window and we all leave a little angrier.
Kira Okah 2 weeks ago (edited)
As of the last couple of days: what exactly is a flashback in terms of mental health stuff. Everything that I knew about them was very film trope cliche, so I didn't really know the range of what they are in medical terms, and so didn't realise until two days ago that what I have been having regularly for over five years are actual "you should probably be talking to a doctor about this" flashbacks. Whoops.
Liz Rutherford 2 weeks ago
I smoked for 15 years. In early 2014, I went to the hospital because I couldn't stop coughing. Diagnosed with pneumonia, which turned into double pneumonia, which turned into ARDS. Crash cart called twice, 30 days in ICU; I remember 5 of them, 44 days between two hospitals. Was on 13 IV meds at one point, including the "nice" antibiotic that left me with permanent hearing loss in my right ear. I have six scars on my neck; 5 from the trache and 1 from the feeding tube and my already-weak heart got weaker, resulting in a pacemaker at 36 (2016). But my boyfriend was by my side through it all when he didn't have to be. We were engaged on my birthday in July 2014 and were married in May 2015.
AuspiciousTree283 2 weeks ago
How meaningless argumentative discourse is. A good and deep discussion on topics and causes can help change minds, but the moment you become patronizing, all your credibility is thrown out the window and we all leave a little angrier.
Kira Okah 2 weeks ago (edited)
As of the last couple of days: what exactly is a flashback in terms of mental health stuff. Everything that I knew about them was very film trope cliche, so I didn't really know the range of what they are in medical terms, and so didn't realise until two days ago that what I have been having regularly for over five years are actual "you should probably be talking to a doctor about this" flashbacks. Whoops.
Liz Rutherford 2 weeks ago
I smoked for 15 years. In early 2014, I went to the hospital because I couldn't stop coughing. Diagnosed with pneumonia, which turned into double pneumonia, which turned into ARDS. Crash cart called twice, 30 days in ICU; I remember 5 of them, 44 days between two hospitals. Was on 13 IV meds at one point, including the "nice" antibiotic that left me with permanent hearing loss in my right ear. I have six scars on my neck; 5 from the trache and 1 from the feeding tube and my already-weak heart got weaker, resulting in a pacemaker at 36 (2016). But my boyfriend was by my side through it all when he didn't have to be. We were engaged on my birthday in July 2014 and were married in May 2015.
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