"My Life Would Have Been Much Better": People Are Sharing Which Mistakes They Regret The Most From Their Youth, And I Think We ALL Have A Lot To Learn From Their Wisdom

"You live, you learn": There's a reason why that's such a popular saying, and why Alanis Morissette wrote a whole song about it. The longer you're alive, the more perspective you gain, and when you look back on the road that got you to where you are, hopefully you'll have gleaned a little bit of wisdom.

1. "I regret being with the wrong guy. I wish instead that we had only slept together once, I became pregnant with my daughter (accidentally), and then raised her without him anywhere near the picture, because this dude turned out to be a total POS."

—u/the-so_what-factor

2. "Don't waste your time drinking. It majorly derailed my life, but I got back on track by my 30s, although still immature AF. I had to catch up a ton."

—u/McSwearWolf

3. "I regret getting too comfortable and never trying new things out. Like, I know my worth and have more confidence than I did in high school, but I wish I'd changed my outlook and pushed myself to keep improving."

—u/yaya_dee

4. "I emotionally cheated on an ex, and I don't know why I did that. I would take that back in a heartbeat if I could."

—u/4NotMy2Real0Account

5. "Stop self-isolating. I was incredibly stressed after college. I basically had no money or energy for social interactions, and I felt a degree of shame comparing myself to my friends. Let people be there for you."

—u/inquisitive-squirrel

6. "I’m 36, and it took me until probably my 30s to really understand the negative impacts of my consumerism."

—u/kellyoohh

"Better late than never, but I shudder at how much I spent on useless rubbish over the years. An expensive lesson."

—u/Writing_my_words

7. "I would have never gone to the tanning bed. I went every single day. It's weird to think that was a normal thing in the early 2000s. All of my prom pictures are hilarious. I look I rolled around in sparkly dirt."

—u/Puzzleheaded-Sir3280

8. "I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to start investing in a personal Roth IRA early. I didn’t start until now (30), and I could have been saving so much more money."

—u/Im-dead95

"Starting at 20 vs 30 is a massive difference. I’m not saying that 30 is too late to start, but there's a big opportunity to save more. $100/month from 20 to 65 at 10% interest gets you to about $862,000. Starting at 30 to 65 puts you at $325,000."

—u/No_Cauliflower633

9. "I wish I'd started exercising regularly when I was younger. I'm doing it now, but I think I would have had fewer issues back then than I do now and would have set myself up better for success."

—u/sqwiggy72

10. "My life would have been much better had I been raised non-religious. I wasted a lot of time and money 'serving God.' I had no framework to understand the abuse I was experiencing from people who also claimed to serve God. Most of the advice I received from religious leaders was bad, unhelpful, and sometimes harmful. I wish I'd left much, much earlier."

—u/Decent-Box-1859

12. "Spending seven years begging doctor after doctor to help my fatigue, only to hear it was because I was a tired mom and I needed to sleep more or exercise more. I finally found a female doctor, and she immediately put me into a sleep study that showed I wake up 24 times an hour and have airway issues. Male doctors do not take female patients seriously. Never again."

—u/Asailors_Thoughts20

"I literally refuse to see male doctors unless absolutely necessary. And as a woman of color, I often seek professionals who are also women of color."

—u/IllustriousTea91

13. "I wish I could go back and stop myself from getting a DUI. My whole life now is 'before DUI' and 'after DUI.'"

—u/1Smartchickey1

14. "Going to art school in NYC ruined my life. I wish I'd just left the country. I wouldn't have studied anything, but at least I wouldn't have so many loans to pay back."

—u/Bootycutie77

15. "I wouldn’t have let my first wife coerce me into a massive wedding I didn’t want. I don’t regret the marriage, but that wedding was NOT me. And it was an ominous portent of the misery to come."

—u/SonuvaGunderson

16. "I wouldn't have quit a good job to go to uni. I should and could have done both, but I didn't know that then. It took my financial freedom away, and the choices I made for my future would have been totally different in a good way."

—u/heartofafox09

17. "My only regret in life was rejecting the offer to play water polo at Occidental College. It’s the only thing I was REALLY good at, and several of the women I would have played with went on to play in the Olympics. Would I have made the Olympic team? Maybe? Maybe not? But not knowing either way is something I still dwell on quite often."

—u/Fit-ishGirlie

18. "For the longest time, I undervalued my time and settled for way too low a wage. I moved into the role of executive chef after the previous chef left, and I found out after I quit that they made $40K more a year than I did. I was wildly underpaid for a stressful job, but it was my own fault for just accepting the terms. That, and I would have gone back for my second degree earlier."

—u/Nadsworth

19. "I would have taken building career skills much more seriously. I dropped out for eight years, and by the time I finally finished my degree, the job market had changed, and people without experience at a certain age are virtually blocked from getting good jobs."

—u/RiverMountain662

20. "I spent so long caring about what other people thought of what I was doing. I didn't really stop caring until I was probably 28. So much wasted time for no reason."

—u/SoulTrack

21. "I would have stayed away from my toxic college friends. Just because they're fun and keep you busy does not mean that they're good for you."

—u/lightningbug24

22. "Breaking up with my first serious boyfriend. I wasn't ready for something real then, but I regret that I threw it away. It was a great relationship with a great person."

—u/lookupfreeross

23. "I really regret partying too much. It really affected my health years later."

—u/BreakfastGirl6

24. "I want to go back and tell myself not to focus solely on my career. Money isn't everything. I would rather have a family and work to make them happy, even if I'm struggling."

—u/Cipher_Ninety

25. "My dating track record is ridiculous. What I really needed was therapy."

—u/anonymousbabe777

26. "I honestly wouldn't change a thing. And I messed up A LOT in my 20s and 30s, but every bad decision led me to where I am now. I am extremely happy with where I am in life and who I have surrounding me, and I would not have met any of those people or ended up where I am without the mistakes that I made."

—u/HereInTheRuin

27. And finally, "I would go back and buy a home when I was 5 years old."

—u/PerfectGanache7134

Do you have any regrets from when you were younger? What would you say to your younger self? Tell me in the comments or use the anonymous form below. Your response may be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed article!

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.