Many people try to make the phrase "no regrets" their motto, pushing aside thoughts about the past and focusing on the future.
However, not dwelling, but reflecting on past experiences, both positive and negative, can provide valuable lessons and insights that lead to personal growth.
According to a recent survey of 2,000 adults commissioned by UK charity consortium Remember A Charity, four in ten people regret certain aspects of their lives, with spending too much time at work and not traveling being among the most common choices.
So we invite you to think about how we want to spend our time and take a look at a Reddit thread started by platform user Hassan_Wamedh that invited people to share what they wish they would've done differently when they were younger.
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I should have left that creepy demeaning religion (Mormonism) 35 years earlier.
Fun fact: did you know that until the mid-70s ish the Mormon religion considered African people to be evil! It’s true! They preached it until they came under fire by the adolescent Civil Rights movement, where that exact night god spoke to the head of church and said black people weret evil after all! What a craaaaaazy coincidence!
Spending more time with my animals. They were gone sooner than I expected and I regret every single time I complained about walking the dog or skipped a riding lesson because I was too busy moping in my room. Appreciate them while they're there, or you'll regret it forever like I do.
My grandfather is Mexican, and he tried to teach me Spanish when I was young, but I was never paying much attention.
I’m trying to learn now, before I lose him.
Turning down invites and opportunities to meet new people and travel to new places because I was too hung up on how I looked. I was so hard on myself. And to her I apologise.
Focusing on school and going to college for something I actually want to do.
I’m 34 now, and while I make like 150k a year, I find my career to be a massive waste of time. I work crazy overtime hours and travel, leading to no life.
The trades aren’t all they are cracked up to me.
Hopefully next year I can enroll and shoot for a masters in psychology to be a therapist. F**k sacrificing life for a check. I have no kids and I’m newly single so now is the time.
Therapy. Should have started at 14 instead of 24, this would have prevented most of the dumb things I did.
Thing is, I'm 14 and I know I need it, but I just can't access it because of my parents. Also because they are a significant part of WHY I need therapy.
Do you have a school counselor or a trusted adult you can talk to? I hope you find a way to get the treatment you deserve.
Load More Replies...Everyone should get therapy. It would probably prevent a lot of wars if politicians went through therapy for years.
Amen on the politicians getting therapy - should be mandatory for every member of congress. Oh yeah that's up to them to implement that kinda like age limits.
Load More Replies...I tried therapy at 24, but didn't do it right. (There were things I just wouldn't talk about, for example.) Quit after a few months. From 25-27 I was often deeply depressed. Maybe I should have tried harder to stick it out. At least I avoided making the same mistake: I see a counselor now and usually won't shut up!
I didn't start seeing a therapist or a psychiatrist until i was 34. All those years lost... Pete Walker's books, particularly "Complex PTSD: from surviving to thriving" really opened my eyes and helped. I feel for anyone who has been in an abusive household. Physical or mental, it all affects us.
I'm not sure, but this one seems a much "Better later than never". I hope everything goes well for you.
I waited until 34. glad I finally went but regret not going far far earlier.
You're getting help now and sounds like it's helping you. Please forgive your younger self. I feel like it's very important in moving forward.
We don't have enough friends. Why would I want to pay someone to listen to me talk? I used to have friends and family who would do that.
Not everyone had family that listened, and when we're kids, most of our friends can't help
Load More Replies...Ate healthily or at least with portion control. I developed bad eating habits because I was deprived of food growing up. I'm around 25 lbs heavier than my normal weight. I've always tried going on a diet but always fail.
Trying too hard to keep friends when they used me and took advantage of my kindness, I've learnt that not everyone wants to be your friend and I'm okay with that!
Being diagnosed with ADHD. Looking back it makes so much sense, but I was never tested. I spent years dealing with depression and anxiety over problems caused by it. Hell I dropped out of college twice.
My grandson got on ADHD at 25 - makes me cry when I think about how much he struggled before. You just have to look forward.
Being a better boyfriend to awesome girls i dated when younger.
Well youth is a gradual learning process. One cannot be expected to know everything about how to treat the opposite sex the first years of dating.
Choosing myself.
You can alienate yourself from everyone and everything, but you'll always have yourself with you. So this is the most important person in your life that you need to take care of.
Skipping travel. Missed adventures haunt me. Embrace every opportunity, folks!
That's a lovely Volkswagen Transporter with camper top, maybe about 1974-1975? Lovely vehicle, I have had several. Lost my virginity in one, thank you.. also learned a lot about mechanicking.
Being accepting of who I am.
Throwing off the religion I grew up with and my warped attitude towards sex.
I should have learned to play the guitar, I should have learned to play them drums.
Wearing a condom. I love my kids more than life itself. but life itself has been a lot different and harder than I thought.
Starting a gym routine, trying more activities and being more social.
For mentally health and not crippled by anxiety people only. We wish you a happy gym routine while we’re trying to get up out of bed in the morning.
Be a teenager. I was too eager to grow up and focused almost exclusively on work from 15-25 so I missed out on the whole thing.
I'm now 27 and I started to once again do things that made me happy when I was a teen / child. I build Legos, buy Star Wars figures, watch Digimon, visit places I liked when I was younger... granted, it won't bring those years back, but it brings some much needed serotonin.
Not getting help when I needed it the most.
You are part of a very big club. Soooo hard to ask for help and trust me people that matter will always help you and understand
Attending prom, graduation and other high school graduate activities. I was just so depressed at the time and didn't think anyone would care if I wasn't there.
Now I'll never get to experience those things.
Depends on the person I guess, I'm like 10 years out of school and I haven't regretted not going, not even once. I had very little connection to those people and they cared more about getting drunk than making memories.
Here are a couple - make working out a hobby, take care of your skin, use Moisturizer/sunscreen, take better care of teeth, spend more time with your parents and capture those moments(photos/videos).
This is anecdotal but the moisturizing / sunscreen part seems to be true. My best friend is in her 70s. I've known her over 50 years. She wears almost no makeup but she has always a light base coat or moisturizer just to protect her face. She has aged SO much more gracefully than her peers and most people guess her age as much younger than her real age. I can't prove how much of that is from the moisturizer but it seems like it helped.
Studying abroad when I was in college.
Studying abroad is nice, but overrated. Working abroad is where it's at!
Note: this post originally had 72 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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Well, everyone has 20/20 hindsight. What helped me, many years later, was to say to myself 'With the information I had at the time, do I regret doing what I did." Quite often, my answer was no, despite various poor outcomes.
Well, everyone has 20/20 hindsight. What helped me, many years later, was to say to myself 'With the information I had at the time, do I regret doing what I did." Quite often, my answer was no, despite various poor outcomes.