15 People Reveal The Biggest Regrets They Live With

There are some regrets in our life that make such a deep impact on our very souls that it may feel like we will carry the weight and mark of the emotion it leaves for the rest of our lives. It could be related to something small or significant but it happens nevertheless. The goal is to remember that regrets are totally normal, because we’re not perfect beings.

#1

Image source: Caxozma, Rawpixel

When I was 7 or 8 years old, I snapped at my dad for getting me the wrong video game and I can still see the disappointment in his face. Haunts me to this day.

#2

Image source: jamiecarl09

Getting married. I spent years paying off her substantial debt, i then dumped another 50k in our “forever house” only to live in it for a year.

Now she’s debt free, and I lost half of everything I paid for.

Never again.

#3

Image source: La_Reina_Rubia, elements.envato.com

I deeply regret letting my creative writing and piano playing skills go to s**t. Ever since I entered the corporate world 19 years ago, it has consumed me and I no longer feel passionate about those things. I stopped practicing everything. When I try to make myself do them, it feels like just that, like I am forcing myself and it is no longer fun. I feel like I’ve become a shell of my former self in so many ways.

#4

Image source: GingerDuden, mstandret

I deeply regret picking on this very socially challenged girl when I was younger. I wasn’t particularly vicious or anything but I should have used my popularity to stand up for her, or at least treat her right.

#5

Image source: nemgtas, Image-Source

Probably rejecting my granpa when he wanted to play chess, he then fell from a roof like a week later and I never had the chance to play chess with him again, still bothers me that I kinda never had this moment with him.

#6

Image source: Taaxiua, AnnaStills

I called my buddy one night because I knew he was having a tough time, I told him I’m coming over, he kept saying no I’m good I’m good…he was less than a mile away. I said okay and then his mom called me in the morning saying he was dead and what did he say to me in the phone call.

I wish I went over.

#7

Image source: Kellbag91, varyapigu

I was seven years of age, I had an argument with my mother the night before she died. Before I went to bed she asked me for a hug I told her NO and stormed off to bed. The next morning I woke up to find everyone in the house was gone, it was very surreal and confusing. My father came back in that morning crying and told me my mother had died of a brain hemorrhage..

Never go to bed on an argument.

#8

Image source: A_bowl_of_porridge, Monstera

Not fighting and advocating more for myself growing up.

I struggled with classes, jobs, projects and hobbies. I had a really hard time focusing on anything. I was called stupid, lazy and all sorts of other things by my teachers, friends and co-workers. I knew I wasn’t any of those things but just couldn’t seem to get things right… Now, a father in my 40s, i started seeing similar issues with my daughter and when we went to speak to some specialists it turns out she has ADHD and a generalized anxiety disorder. We got her treatment and a prescription for some medications and she’s doing so much better at everything. The similarities in her struggles and mine motivated me to get tested and sure enough I got diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive type).
Started counselling and medication (Adderall) and its like a switch was thrown. I’m a functional human… Finally.
Now I’m just dealing with the emotional trauma of growing up like that and all the pent up frustration and anger over a life that “might have been” had my parents, or anyone for that matter, made an effort to really find out why I was the way I was… Better late than never I guess.

#9

Image source: crazylittleEntity, insidecreativehouse

Not getting a second opinion sooner on my back injury. Injured my back at work in 2014, was taken to a WorkCover doctor where I now know I was misdiagnosed and then gaslighted by the workplace OH&S officer. Had I known that I could seek a second opinion from another doctor while on WorkCover, it would have been found that I had a permanent disc protrusion that was impacting a major nerve.

I waited 7 years to seek a different opinion, all because I believed the WorkCover doctor and a physio couldn’t be wrong as they were professionals and that I had ‘just a simple back strain’. Meanwhile I’m walking around in chronic pain with a disc protrusion that could’ve ruptured at any given moment.

I’m now permanently disabled thanks to my own stupidity. And I can’t take legal action against the company now as there is only a 3 year grace period to do so.

#10

Image source: paula36, stockasso

My mom died nearly one year ago. She battled ALS for two years. It was very sudden and a horrific experience. The last thing she said to me before she lost the ability to speak was “stay”. She was dying and afraid and just wanted her daughter to stay by her side, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t sit and watch her die. It was excruciating for me. I did visit her every day until her death, but she was no longer there really. She died a week later. I will never forgive myself.

#11

Image source: Mentalfloss1, Ono Kosuki

Used my new cordless power drill without reading the instructions. It’s a LOT more powerful than my old corded drill was. Fourth hand surgery coming up soon.

#12

Image source: UrchineSLICE, KostiantynVoitenko

I wish I was hungrier. I love my job, but I’ve worked here forever and there were multiple times where I could have been groomed for management positions and I just was content to pick up a check.

Outside of that, not taking music seriously. A lot of my friends and family say I have talent but I have a hard time believing that.

#13

Image source: Poultrygeist74, Ba Tik

Too many things to list here. One I think about too much is how I ruined a good friendship with a girl because I let my real feelings get in the way. Basically I went full incel and wrote her a letter telling her she was a horrible person. Took me way too long to realize it was me that was horrible (and stupid).

#14

Image source: ancap_attack, Rawpixel

Getting married to my first girlfriend at 19. I rushed the relationship because it felt good to not be alone and I thought that I could help her with her depression and anxiety, was hoping to have kid with her as well. However as time went on she just got worse and worse and kept using her depression as a crutch to justify every s****y thing she did.

When I started experiencing depression I stopped trying to keep things together and we got divorced a few years ago. I still haven’t recovered mentally from it and between that and the pandemic I feel like a shell of the man I used to be.

#15

Image source: BurnerThrowaway999, voronaman111

I deeply regret ghosting someone I really did like. And she liked me. I had some bouts with extreme anxiety last year and just kind of couldn’t function. I think I was also not really prepared for meeting her. It was unexpected. I think I wasn’t in a great place for that at that time. I don’t know if I should reach out to apologize or not. I don’t know if she would want to hear from me. I probably will and I do want to. I want her to know it wasn’t because I didn’t like her. I really did. I really feel terrible about it.