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.

#1

Choosing myself.

Image credits: Sonnenschein69420

#2

Therapy. Should have started at 14 instead of 24, this would have prevented most of the dumb things I did.

Image credits: DeltaPavonis1

#3

I should have left that creepy demeaning religion (Mormonism) 35 years earlier.

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#4

Socializing and giving my own interests a chance.

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#5

Not traveling enough before having kids.

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#6

Being a better boyfriend to awesome girls i dated when younger.

Image credits: Own_Comfortable_4955

#7

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.

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#8

Learning more languages and skills.

Image credits: NarutoWinchester

#9

Learning financial literacy.

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#10

Protect my hearing and my teeth.

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#11

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!

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#12

Skipping travel. Missed adventures haunt me. Embrace every opportunity, folks!

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#13

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.

#14

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.

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#15

Walking away from toxic people.

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#16

Exploring my sexuality.

#17

Taking care of my teeth better and saved more money.

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#18

Lots of other comments resonate with me, so hard to select one. Having confidence to make my own decisions and not rely on people to ‘encourage’ me.

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#19

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.

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#20

I would not use tobacco…. ever.

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#21

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.

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#22

Settling down with the wrong person too early.

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#23

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.

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#24

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.

#25

Studying abroad when I was in college.

#26

Documenting the times I was living in and the experiences I was having. I was born in 2000 and remember being somewhat aware of my own existence by 3 or so, though 4 onward was when I could really tell what was going on. My childhood wasn’t the best, but it had a lot of good moments that I wish that I had more than just my memories to go off of when thinking about them. It would have been cool to take photos and videos of things like my Sega Dreamcast and the games I played on our CRT TV in the basement or watching my dad sit and eat chips in the living room while playing Grand Theft Auto III on his Playstation 2 he had recently bought. Maybe I’d record a day of me fooling around on the family computer as Windows XP booted up and I scurried over to Internet Explorer with its clunky yet personality filled interface as I looked up images of Super Saiyan 100 Goku on Google images. The list goes on.

Life has changed so much in the last 10 to 20 years, my personal life especially, and while in some ways, it’s been for the better, I miss those days of the early 2000s more and more with each passing year. Life is so complicated now.

Image credits: Forest-Hills

#27

Being accepting of who I am.

Throwing off the religion I grew up with and my warped attitude towards sex.

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#28

Not getting help when I needed it the most.

#29

Learning how to invest.

#30

Setting boundaries with my parents.

#31

Two things.

– I regret not taking my education and future career more seriously.

– And I regret not taking a chance at love with two different people at two different times, out of respect for a ‘bro code’ that hardly anyone ever even follows themselves and for people who didn’t even turn out to be long term friends.

I’m not sure which one I would change if I could go back and do it over. One cancels out the other because if my life was a bit more focused and less wayward, I probably wouldn’t have even met these people that I still think about today. I’m gonna go with education and career. I feel like if I had chosen a way and worked on a comfortable life, everything else would be much better too.

Image credits: Zero22xx

#32

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).

Image credits: KajjiKai

#33

Finding a good friends group. I’d think I’d be a lot better of person if I had people who genuinely wanted to hang out with me. I was one of those kids where if you were in a room and someone would have to pick who they hung out with it wouldn’t be me most of the time and it still probably is like that other then my bf.

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#34

Following my own interests instead of seeking parental approval.

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#35

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.

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#36

Starting a gym routine, trying more activities and being more social.

Image credits: Frankthetankjones

#37

I should have learned to play the guitar, I should have learned to play them drums.

#38

Running away and getting emancipated at 16. However, my life at that time was in chaos due to abusive parents.

#39

Investing more emotionally in my children. So many people praise their kids for everything. “Everyone is a winner! Everyone gets a prize!” So many of these kids grow up to be entitled a******s.
I raised my children more realistically. When they did well I praised them when they fell short we talked about how to do better next time. They are great kids and I wanted to raise good people. Kind people but also able and willing to do the work to do well in life. Accountable. They are both in great universities and are great students. They are doing well by any measure you can think of but are not happy. Both have bad social anxiety and struggle with relationships. My son is very driven and seldom happy with his work. Always feels he could have done more. Never had a girlfriend and struggles with friendships.
I should have just hugged them more. They are responsible good people. I wish they were happier.

#40

Wearing a condom. I love my kids more than life itself. but life itself has been a lot different and harder than I thought.

#41

I mean technically 1-2 years ago I was younger, id tell myself to be brutally honest & not second guess myself.

#42

Dumping my abusive ex before he belittled all of my interests. I’d have a stellar career right now if I did.

#43

Not going to college when I had the chance.

#44

Honestly, and this is going to sound terrible, but I kind of wish I was a lot meaner in high school, LOL ? people needed to get told off more, and I was such a people pleaser.

#45

Fighting back and not take bullying. Learn ju jitsu and be able to defend myself.

I wish I also really learned to use words to communicate with people and practice active listening and varying your approach based on personalities.

#46

Learning how to sew.

My mom had a sewing machine and made my clothes when I was little. She also made clothes for my Barbies. I was never interested and got frustrated the few times that she tried to teach me as a kid. We did a little sewing in high school, but my projects were pretty bad. Now, I wish that I could make my own clothes or even just alter/repair stuff. There really aren’t classes for sewing near me and I don’t learn well from video.

#47

Researching my career path more. There are so many things I wish I did instead of spending 3 years in college, then 4 in university, only to still be unhappy in my career.

#48

Looking back on how many opportunities I didn’t realize I had because I was an idiot and didn’t pick up what I now realize as heavy signals from girls to make a move.

#49

Making more friends and networking.

#50

Never built or played in a treehouse.

#51

Enjoying the moment and feel my feelings.

#52

Not investing time in carving a better physical version of myself. I jumped in on the bandwagon quite late and it seems to be the perfect solution for most of my insecurities that I had harbored in my younger days. It alleviates so many problems of your life that it is something that everyone should embark on as early as possible in their lives !

Image credits: MissOldWine

#53

Exploring hobbies and sport.

#54

Graduating.

#55

I regret having a boyfriend. At that young age I should be playing with toys, doing homework and living my best life, not worrying about relationships.

#56

Letting myself be pressured into being in a relationship with a much older man who was abusive. I was with this man who was in his late 50’s from when I was 21-25 and I wish I got out sooner. I feel like I wasted so much time with him but he would threaten me if I tried to leave him. I’ve been out of that relationship for almost 3 years now and still trying to heal.

#57

Going to Australia when I was 18 like I was stuck in a dead end job, most embarrassing place to work in my life, and I still stayed in it. The team leader also threatened to ‘let me go’ in my probation period so I should’ve just left.

#58

Learning how to fight.

#59

Not telling someone about my abusive sexually and physically abusive mom and step-dad so that I could of had an attempt at a normal childhood.

#60

I had a friend from college who did alot of comic conventions. He would always invite me and my at the time gf to travel with he and his wife. But my job had me working all the time which I had to do BC of bills….always bills to pay.
He passed away some years ago and i regret not hanging out more. I wish I had just said “these bills will be here regardless, lets go.”

#61

I think it would have been a great experience to have done a foreign exchange program in high school.

#62

Getting good grades/academics.

I’m now on my way to becoming an attorney. But not without a lot of difficulty. Much more than I would have endured had I been diligent in making good grades in the first place.

#63

Buying $100 in Bitcoin when I was 14.

#64

Starting my career sooner.

#65

Kiss the girl.

Some form of military service.

Move out of parents home.

Stand up to bullies, including family, much earlier.

#66

Leaving home.

#67

Choosing to pursue my own interests rather than seeking my parents’ approval—a liberating journey of self-discovery and authenticity.

#68

Investing in the stock market.

#69

I wish wasn’t to passive to teachers in high school, I should of stood up for myself when they were abusing their power.

#70

Could have been a bit more ambitious.

#71

I regret not getting a job. I was at home looking after my late mom and everyone else and doing ALL of the housework cause my sorry family thought that they were too good to do anything especially my late mom. She told me that my job was to look after them and do the housework forever. She didn’t cook didn’t clean didn’t do laundry and barely raised us. My siblings think they had a good life; I ain’t gonna stir the pot and start anything. I told them after our mom died that I won’t do anything like that again. It’s the parents job to look after the kids not the kids to look after themselves that’s just wrong.

#72

Play D&D. Got into it in my early 30s and all my friends have jobs or plans with their partners on the weekends so it takes months to find common time.

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