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30 Things That People Thought They Wanted So Much, Yet Regretted After Finally Getting, As Shared In This Online Group
The human mind is a strange thing, especially when it comes to our desires. They can arise completely spontaneously, occupying all our time - and then, when we finally achieve what we wanted, it suddenly turns out that the main joy was not so much from possession, but actually from the desire to possess.
So it turns out that over the years of our life, we have collected a whole lot of various things that once seemed absolutely necessary, and now we don’t even have a clue what to do with them. It's really like a suitcase without a handle - so hard to carry, such a shame to throw away. Yes, these are mind games, there's no denying it.
There is a popular thread on Reddit where people talk about different things they once thought they wanted, but really regretted afterwards. More than 12.7K upvotes and almost 8.4K comments suggest this topic is very close to people.
Bored Panda has compiled a curated list with the most popular and really ingenious things from this discussion. We strongly suppose you'll be interested in reading and watching - and, perhaps, will also have something to share.
More info: Reddit
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A backyard pool.
I always wanted one until I had one.
It was a huge pain in the a**. Had to buy chemicals, had to test the water, had to clean it, found dead snakes in the skimmer baskets, had to get the pump replaced, etc.
I agree with what several commenters have said. If you can afford to have someone do the work for you then it's something really nice to have. If you can afford the mortgage on the house with the pool but still mow your own lawn, clean your own house, etc. The pool is likely to be more trouble than it's worth.
I bought a collection of lockdown gym equipment I had all good intentions for. It turns out a lack of free time wasn’t really the reason I wasn’t ripped.
Being an adult...
As a child I couldn't wait to grow up. As a working adult, I couldn't wait to retire and I'm finding it isn't what I had hoped. It is easy to focus on the what you will gain in the next phase of your life, but you don't realize what you will lose. Just enjoy the good things in each day.
Marine fish tank. They look absolutely gorgeous when clean and running well however I didn't bank on how difficult it would be to have it clean and running well..
Ex husband had one of these. I really didn't want a small section of ocean in the living room, OK. A year later: SO MUCH MONEY. SO MANY DEAD FISH. SO MUCH FREAKING OUT OVER MONEY AND DEAD FISH. Then he got into reptiles.
Taking out student loans to achieve a degree that will never pay me enough to pay back the student loans.
Anyone in the US that reads this. Very few professions care about what school you went to. Or even physical locations. The few I can think of are doctors, hyper specific job that are also based at MIT, ect. For everything else. Get your generals done through a community college. History and math 101 are the same there as they are at Harvard only way cheaper. Do as much online as possible. And if you are still in highschool. See what programs/classes your school offers that will count as college credits. If you stack your classes right you could walk out of HS with an associates degree. Also also, once you start the Bachelor's degree things at least get funner. They are classes you care about. Because they are in the field you are interested in.
Working a job that involves skills from one of my hobbies. Now it feels more like work than the hobby.
I found the opposite to be true. I'm a metal fabricator that I started as a hobby. I now do it for a living and now I have access to equipment that I would never have been able to afford let alone have room for. I have also become so much better (there's so many people who are better than me) than I would have if I had kept it just a hobby
A business. Supposedly my dream job….but I haaaate it.
Yes, I own a bakery that I’ve run for 13 years. It’s successful, always paid its bills….but it’s definitely zapped the joy out of a hobby. Anyone that has worked with the public knows it’s taxing. I’ve lost the creative aspect and just feel like a slave to it honestly. Bakery hours can be rough, so maybe it’s the lack of sleep catching up to me, lol. I just know that I was already feeling burned out, but now with the insane increase to costs of supplies - and the unpredictability of finding certain things altogether, I’ve decided this will be my last year in business.
This is sad. I wonder if finding a different way to structure the business would be better. Such as making products upon order. So you have a menu of a few products that can be made with a more limited ingredients list and get customers to place a order for that product to be made and ready for pick up. That way ready-made products aren't going to waste. I always wonder how much of the products I see in bakeries get sold.
Being single
I’m a 25 y/o gay male that was dating an older man. We had a great life together. I thought I wanted to be single because I needed the experience of living on my own/having other partners, but now realizing I lost something truly special. It’s hard learning to date again
The experience of living alone is a valuable one to have, if you are fortunate enough to be in a position to manage it. It's possible to have that experience and still be in a committed relationship though.
Go pro.
I don’t even go on a picnic. What the f**k did I need a go pro for.
Buying a new ski boat. Expensive, too big to keep in the garage and burned $80 in gas in an afternoon (when gas was still affordable). Mostly I pulled the kids and their friends on wake boards or kneeboards around and around in circles while the air temperature was close to 100 and came home dehydrated and with a headache. A happy day is when you buy a boat. A happier day is when you sell that b***h.
To get off my meds. Did. Was absolutely terrible . Went back on them probably for the rest of my life
Waterbed. Biggest waste of money. Spent 1k on the most uncomfortable bed ever. Practically broke my back and sold it for 100 after just a year of using it.
I had one when I was a kid, they were all the rage back then and I loved it. Haven't tried one as a grown up, but you're laying down on water, how can it be uncomfortable?
Seriously its not a floating tank. Its a pladtic bubble over filled with water. No real back support, out of rythm for shagging. They are terrible.
Load More Replies...My parents had a California king size waterbed when i was growing up, my dad was paralyzed so a waterbed avoided a lot of issues for him (back pain, pressure sores, and it was heated so it balanced out his horrible circulation and always being freezing) i always loved it. So when i was about 17, my mom and i moved and i had to get a new bed, so of course i went for a waterbed. But a lot had changed in 10 years, No longer were they just a thick skinned water balloon with a heating pad underneath. No, i got one that looked exactly like a normal queen size bed. Had the cheap metal T frame, a box spring and the water mattress had a rigid foam "frame" around it with covert cover to make it look like a normal mattress. Even the water balloon (lets be honest) was filled with layers of cotton to cut down on the horrible waviness that the beds of the 70's and 80's were known for. Heated in the winter, nice and cold in the summer. Paid $650 for it in 2000, most comfortable sleep i've ever had.
I slept on one back in the 90s and was paranoid the whole time that it was going to pop like a water balloon. It was weird - one moment they were all over the place, and the next they were gone!
My husband and I had one and loved it. So comfortable! My children loved it too. One night we had an earthquake but we didn't feel it. Many people at my husband's work the day after and he kept asking "what earthquake?". After thinking about it we realized that that the bed did some rocking during that night (we thought it was the other person moving a lot).
I rented a small studio guesthouse in Ft. Worth. They had cut out a section of the wood flooring and put a queen sized waterbed directly into the floor. After a night of hardcore Texas partying I would come home and collapse (willingly) face down on it. I loved it. The only downside is waking up at 3 or 4 am and having to go to the head. ;)
I miss my waterbed! Wait, is that your waterbed? OhHellNo...I can tell by looking at it, wrong waterbed bladder/wrong material for a waterbed bladder! That's where your problems started. Wait, How Much did you Spend on That?! LMFAO...bruh
When my wife and I got married, her parents booked us in their local, way out in the boonies, motel. It had a waterbed, a cheap one. I had never slept in a waterbed, and we didn't realize it was one. My wife is sitting on it, I finish unpacking and then I let myself fall on the bed, sending her into orbit across the room. It also had a coin operated "massage" machine.
I'm always surprised to hear these still exist. I see them as something that should have been left in the 80's.
I had one when they first came out, What a pain in the a*s! Get into a deep sleep, partner gets up to go to the bathroom, bed starts rocking uncontrollably! Kid climbs in bed with sharp toy, all you can do is: try to drain it, before it Soaks the whole house! Then, take out water bed, insert real mattress.
I never wanted a waterbed, though I had friends who said they' never slept better, etc. I stayed with a friend one night. She had a waterbed for me to sleep on (in?). Most uncomfortable bed ever. Worst sleep ever and I got up with aches and pains in places I didn't know i had.
I had a water bed for years and it was the best I slept my entire life.
I would be a water bed today if I knew where to buy one. Not one of the new style no motion c**p ones either. I sleep on my couch(kids have the bedrooms). Man I wish I still had one..or could find one to buy! My parents found one on line a few years ago. They Lucked out
I lied in a waterbed once when they were still somewhat common in bed stores. I almost fell asleep in 5minutes during a time when I had constant nightmares and it took half an hour to an hour to fall asleep.
My wife and I had waterbeds for 40 years. She decided to go to a regular bed 5 years ago. I really miss our waterbeds.
I loved mine. Except when I was pregnant. Couldn't get up. Only bed that's ever had been through enjoyment for my bad back. But to each their own.
I loved my waterbed. Parents bought it for me as a teenager and I had it for over 25 years. The biggest problem was finding a pump to drain it when ever I moved.
wow. spent over thirty years on the old 'bag' type in a wood box, loved it! now have the soft side pillow top kind, love it even more! it's always warm and cozy, and totally adjustable to my level of softness/hardness. the only bed i ever liked, no, loved more was my great aunts FEATHER bed, from goose feathers she collected herself!
I had sever back problems. My water bed helped so much. Didn’t change until I bought a Select Comfort. Now I have a raise foot r head Hospital bed w/Gel mattress. Love it.
If it isn't filled properly it can be very uncomfortable. My parents surprised me with it, when I sat on it I nearly broke my tail bone. When you think its full fill it more.
My dad and sister had one back in the 80’s. I remember sleeping in hers when I was sick and it was very comforting and warm. But then one of her “guests” at an illicit party she had slashed our father’s bed and it was a b***h to clean up.
You have to either use a special heater to warm the water or pile tons of blankets between the water bed and the bottom sheet. Use 2 flat sheets; when you tuck in the bottom sheet, the pressure of the water against the frame keeps the sheet snuggly in place.
Load More Replies...I have slept in a waterbed for over 50 years now. Will never give it up.
I LOVED my waterbed. I guess it was one of the fancier ones that had folding bladders and a fabric inside that made it waveless, but it’s not like it was pricier. In the end my wife disliked it after we married and we ditched it. I still miss it, but dig our current bed too.
It is comfortable until you get older & it's hard to get in & out of the bed. Ditto for changing the linen. The newer mattresses feel so much better & l don't have to worry about a possible leak or rupture.
My parents gave me their huge water bed when I was a kid. It was nice at first and I really liked the thermostat on it. All was good until I got a stomach bug the motion of water when you are on the verge of throwing up isn't great and getting out of bed fast to vomit isn't easy. I ended up throwing up trying to get out of bed and it had to be drained to clean because it went underneath the big rectangular water balloon that is the mattress I ended up getting a regular bed shortly after.
My folks had one when i was a kid. The heater caught fire. They got rid of it pretty quick after that.
When I was 9-10 yrs old, a friend's parents bought her a very expensive, king-size water bed. I used to spend the night at her house often and I hated that bed so much. It wasn't soft at all, I would get horribly hot and sweaty, and then it was really difficult to roll over when you wanted to. Of course you can't move at all without bouncing the other person around either. But my friend loved her bed and always bragged about it to everyone. I never had the heart to tell her how much I hated it and that I'd rather sleep on the floor. That was my first and thankfully last experience with a water bed.
Nose ring. Once I got it, it just felt like I had a booger in my nose that I couldn’t get rid of
My art degree from a private institution. It’s “nationally accredited“ which means its useless
I won't have to work another day in my life!
I became disabled in 2019
I can't understand this attitude. I, unfortunately was forced into disability myself. My culinary career was my entire life. I would get up in the morning, dress and head off to work. I would spent the entire day, often until late at night there, go home, shower, go to bed and wake the next morning to gladly start it all over again. This was my way of life and I adored it. My health improved a bit, so I began volunteering in one of the local kitchens cooking for the homeless. Last summer alone I put in over 100 hours for them and others and was happy as a clam again. Things have taken a bit of a downturn again, but I still look for ways to help.
Massage chair. I enjoyed the demo in the shop, that's about it.
an open relationship
My husband and I agreed to having an open relationship. It was one of the WORST decisions I ever made. If anyone is contemplating trying an open relationship, DON'T!
A house in the country. Was fun at first, have land, can do what I want. But now it’s a pain to get anything serviced on the house, deliveries take longer, and it’s a pain to go grocery shopping or just into town in general. And the upkeep on the land is now a time waste, and sometimes I just want someone to deliver me pizza! Moving into town this summer.
I found a good compromise : living in a medium city, working at the country. Both benefits: able to find peace and calm on my daywork, and everything I need in the evening. But it's France, a human sized country
A friend-with-benefits. I thought it would be fun and effortless but definitely not. He told me sweet things in the beginning saying he could see it being more, I fell for it quickly like an amateur
Then we had sex. Afterwards he’s playing hot and cold and my feelings are on a roller coaster of “what is happening??” Says he just wants to be strictly fwb and not pursue anything more but is still interested in me. *Then* he says he’s not interested in being friends anymore either. Maybe I was too clingy after the initial sweet words, maybe he wasn’t ever truly interested in anything but a one night thing but either way my head was spinning. I have never doubted myself more. I just wish he would have been more decisive on what he wanted.
Wonderful guy, wish nothing but the best for him but whew, hell of a week. No more fwb for me lmaoo.
The job I am currently in. The work is alright, but the company is s**t.
"The hours are pretty good, but now you come to mention it, most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy.”
When I was a kid, I was insistent on having a ketchup and mustard sandwich. I begged my mom to make it for me. My rationale was if a hamburger was delicious on a bun with ketchup and mustard, surely a sandwich minus the meat would be great. My Mom finally made the sandwich. I immediately regretted it.
Same with begging for Bakers unsweetened chocolate. How is it good enough in cookies but not on it's own?
This girl, thought she was nice, got to know her, turns out she has the personality of sandpaper
Sometimes you won't realize exactly how beautiful someone is until you get to know them. Beauty on the inside turns into beauty on the outside.
To live near family, instead of moving somewhere better. We haven't had two nice days in a row since October here. It is always raining, snowing, cold enough to kill you, incredibly windy, or just unpleasant out because of the resulting days before it. (Upstate NY near the Canada border.) Everywhere has issues, but damn, I just want to be outside in 70 degrees without taking a vacation.
As long as I'm away from them, I'll take any kind of weather. I live in a place with two weeks of summer, but at least I'm not even within driving distance.
That 2 lb novelty Reese Cup. I regretted how good it was.
I don't like Reese's and I don't like peanut butter. I've been called a freak.
A $1200 versace watch to impress a girl that I met off Facebook that I never ended up meeting in real life
Anyone impressed by an expensive watch is not someone I want to know.
Nickelodeon Video Now. I paid $70 for one and two discs. Then Video Now Color came out just a few months later and made it obsolete.
I still have mine! I only ever had one disk that played 2 episodes of spongebob, but I watched those two episodes like 10 times a day as a child. I randomly find it sometimes and it surprisingly still works great
Note: this post originally had 36 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I think having a lawn can be on this list. The time, money, energy and water that is needed for a lawn (especially a front lawn) is such a waste. We now have mulch with a pathway going through it with some perennials and a couple bushes. Looks so much better and it is so much easier to maintain. So much less wasted water.
Our "lawn" is a mix of several types of clover, wildflowers, and various mosses. I think it's beautiful, and it requires no maintenance except occasional mowing (and we always leave a patch unmowed for pollinators). It's always the first "lawn" to be green in the Spring while the fertilized, manicured lawns of neighbors are still brown.
Load More Replies...Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting.It seems illogical but it is often times true.
Mines would definitely be an Echo Dot. All my friends were talking about it so I decided to get one. Lights turn on during conversations for no reason and it made me paranoid it was listening lol. It’s now unplugged and not been used for months
Nope,I don't need nor want any of that. I have something like that on my phone and the first thing I did was disable it.
Load More Replies...What I regret is getting my earlobes pierced with a piercinggun at the jewelry store at the age of 16 instead of with a needle at the piercing shop. I'm now almost 32 and even though I have had earrings for half my life now, it never healed properly. I still sometimes experience inflammation. And on one side if I don't wear any earring in it for more than a week it will have actually partially closed. The skin trauma from getting pierced with a gun is really so bad it can leave lasting problems. I also advise parents who want to give their daughters earrings to not get them done with a gun. Go to a good piercing shop and get them done with a needle. It's actually less painful and doesn't give skin trauma.
number 23, she says "he was a wonderful guy" even though he played with her feelings🙄🙄🙄
Technically life has a return policy. At some point death comes for everyone and the world will keep spinning without you just as it did before you were born. No need to commit suicide. You can just wait it out. After some time on earth it will happen anyway. Best to make the most of it before that happens. Enjoy life a little. Make friends. Follow ambitions. Enjoy good meals. Maybe travel a bit. Life is maybe quite pointless. But that doesn't mean it's pointless to be a good person and do right by others and yourself.
Load More Replies...How about all those bikes people bought during lockdown? The greenway is right behind me, and, as soon as things started opening up people stopped biking. Now there are tons sitting in garages. I regret buying a device that makes my Android Auto wireless. Still need a charger, and, my new car really isn't set up for having a wireless charger easily.
I thought I wanted a full time job with health benefits and company pension. It turns out what I actually want is casual employment with the freedom to say no to any shift I don't want to work, and the freedom to do whatever I want when I get out of bed in the morning. I don't need health benefits from work because we have free health care. I don't need a company pension because I'm good with my money and I know how to save it properly. Having had COVID for the last whole month has really shown me how much I value my freedom, hobbies, and time with my dog.
So basically you want to be independently wealthy... must be nice.
Load More Replies...FITBIT WATCH! The thing would never sync to my phone. It's now a nice addition to the junk drawer.
One of my great regrets in life is not taking over my Uncles' shop in Westwood, NJ (J&J Stationary, if any of you out there remember it). But I know that if I had, I would have regretted doing it, because I'm not the type of person who can get up every day, open a store, work all day, close it, go home, and feel rewarded by it. I would have hated it. So I regret not doing it, even though I know I would have regretted doing it.
Spicy Chicken BBQ | Chicken Barbeque | Eid special recipe https://youtu.be/VP5lm_f0RgU
I think having a lawn can be on this list. The time, money, energy and water that is needed for a lawn (especially a front lawn) is such a waste. We now have mulch with a pathway going through it with some perennials and a couple bushes. Looks so much better and it is so much easier to maintain. So much less wasted water.
Our "lawn" is a mix of several types of clover, wildflowers, and various mosses. I think it's beautiful, and it requires no maintenance except occasional mowing (and we always leave a patch unmowed for pollinators). It's always the first "lawn" to be green in the Spring while the fertilized, manicured lawns of neighbors are still brown.
Load More Replies...Having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting.It seems illogical but it is often times true.
Mines would definitely be an Echo Dot. All my friends were talking about it so I decided to get one. Lights turn on during conversations for no reason and it made me paranoid it was listening lol. It’s now unplugged and not been used for months
Nope,I don't need nor want any of that. I have something like that on my phone and the first thing I did was disable it.
Load More Replies...What I regret is getting my earlobes pierced with a piercinggun at the jewelry store at the age of 16 instead of with a needle at the piercing shop. I'm now almost 32 and even though I have had earrings for half my life now, it never healed properly. I still sometimes experience inflammation. And on one side if I don't wear any earring in it for more than a week it will have actually partially closed. The skin trauma from getting pierced with a gun is really so bad it can leave lasting problems. I also advise parents who want to give their daughters earrings to not get them done with a gun. Go to a good piercing shop and get them done with a needle. It's actually less painful and doesn't give skin trauma.
number 23, she says "he was a wonderful guy" even though he played with her feelings🙄🙄🙄
Technically life has a return policy. At some point death comes for everyone and the world will keep spinning without you just as it did before you were born. No need to commit suicide. You can just wait it out. After some time on earth it will happen anyway. Best to make the most of it before that happens. Enjoy life a little. Make friends. Follow ambitions. Enjoy good meals. Maybe travel a bit. Life is maybe quite pointless. But that doesn't mean it's pointless to be a good person and do right by others and yourself.
Load More Replies...How about all those bikes people bought during lockdown? The greenway is right behind me, and, as soon as things started opening up people stopped biking. Now there are tons sitting in garages. I regret buying a device that makes my Android Auto wireless. Still need a charger, and, my new car really isn't set up for having a wireless charger easily.
I thought I wanted a full time job with health benefits and company pension. It turns out what I actually want is casual employment with the freedom to say no to any shift I don't want to work, and the freedom to do whatever I want when I get out of bed in the morning. I don't need health benefits from work because we have free health care. I don't need a company pension because I'm good with my money and I know how to save it properly. Having had COVID for the last whole month has really shown me how much I value my freedom, hobbies, and time with my dog.
So basically you want to be independently wealthy... must be nice.
Load More Replies...FITBIT WATCH! The thing would never sync to my phone. It's now a nice addition to the junk drawer.
One of my great regrets in life is not taking over my Uncles' shop in Westwood, NJ (J&J Stationary, if any of you out there remember it). But I know that if I had, I would have regretted doing it, because I'm not the type of person who can get up every day, open a store, work all day, close it, go home, and feel rewarded by it. I would have hated it. So I regret not doing it, even though I know I would have regretted doing it.
Spicy Chicken BBQ | Chicken Barbeque | Eid special recipe https://youtu.be/VP5lm_f0RgU