What's the worst "life choice" you ever made?

[Locut0s]

We've all fucked up somewhere along the road of life, perhaps you didn't take "the road less travelled" and regret it. Perhaps you did take it and it messed things up for you. Maybe it was something much simpler, perhaps you defaulted on a loan when you didn't have to and it messed up your credit. Maybe you went jobless for too long. Spent time on the streets, etc. What would you say is the worst decision or series of decisions you've made in your life. What do you regret the most?

For me it would be the numerous times I've dropped out of school. But particularly this last time. I don't know if I can say I could have prevented it as I was in a bad was emotionally. But I wish someone e had been there to really REALLY persuade me otherwise. Either way it's in the past now and I suppose you could say something of a life lesson, though it's a mistake I keep repeating.

[Aristus]

1. Failing to use my GI Bill education money until it was too late.

I got out of the Army, and immediately entered the retail gulag, wasting about 5 years of my life trying to work my way up through what were essentially dead-end jobs.

I should have gotten started on my career sooner. My GI Bill expired not long after I started taking the necessary classes.

[Locut0s]

2. You got some life experience out of those years though I'm sure...

I worked 4+ years at 711 and I'm not likely to go back. But I learned a lot in those years. I grew a lot and saved up some money.

[Chan790]

3. I live in metro DC...I think that one is self-explanatory.

I really hate it here.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. Worked there for a while

I wrote a song

~When the speed of the cars~
~permits gazing at stars~
~that's the beltway~

[trof]

10. 'At's amore! Got it.

[loli phabay]

6. lol been there, luckily i escaped to the country.

[LiberalEsto]

11. Not too crazy about it myself

Rockville MD here

Can't stand the rude and merciless drivers, or the type-A hyper competitive people who are constantly too busy to slow down and chat.

[nomorenomore08]

17. So you went back to Rockville and wasted another year? (with apologies to R.E.M.)

[LiberalEsto]

58. Been in Rockville area for 23 years

Wish I could go back to NJ

[nomorenomore08]

78. Yeah, I was just quoting a song lyric.

And I feel fortunate that I've never "had" to move away from home, other than going to school for 4 years which was still within a hundred miles. I'm not the kind of person who makes new friends easily, so those lifelong connections are very important to me.

[kwassa]

32. Why do you hate DC?

I live here as well, have lived many other places, and think it, overall, a great environment.

[Chan790]

60. Well...

*I've never liked DC after the age of 20, I went to college down here and for some reason keep getting stranded back here largely against my will...in the DC or homeless sense.

*I don't drive and Metro blows. It's a overpriced, fake transit system that largely fails to run midweek and utterly fails on weekends. Then add to that the continuing unwillingness to run enough trains at peak hours so you get to spend $5 to be packed like sardines and be groped.

*The people suck. All the people; all the time. Someone once said "DC is Hollywood for ugly people." They were wrong. DC is Paris for assholes.

*They're so rude too...people say NYCers are rude but "hey, go F**k yourself!" is our way of acknowledging people and "the f**k you lookin' at?" means "howdy!" DC people just turn their noses up at each other and more so if you're not over-educated and f**king useless. It's a pretentious classist false-meritocracy.

*It's obscenely expensive. Not San Francisco expensive but I've lived here and I've lived in Brooklyn...and the cost of living here is higher. My 400sqft. apartment in NY might have cost $600, but there is no such thing in DC as a 400sqft apartment...or a $600 apartment. Food costs more here. Transportation costs more here. Everything costs more here.

*I'm from NYC and DC feels like a shitty Westchester suburb, one of those places it wouldn't be terrible to live if you could get on a train and be in a real city in 20-30 minutes.

*I'm increasingly coming to hate politics and want to strangle Congressional staffer asswipes with their own Hermes ties. Someone told me that makes me a true DC local...I said I'd have to strangle myself if I were ever a DC local.

[Xyzse]

70. Dang...

I still work in DC, and deal with the traffic.
I'd have to agree with the metro system.

[grasswire]

97. I absolutely loved living in the district

....and even loved living in NoVa. I was thrilled every time I walked the Mall. Just loved it.

[Carolina]

115. I lived in northwest DC

from age 4 months to 40 years. Loved it and moved very reluctantly to my husband's native red state in the 1990s.

I often feel that move was my biggest life mistake because once home, husband changed and the two decades+ marriage failed. Anyway, I toyed with returning to my beloved DC, but when visiting family still living there, I realize that, in absentia, I have romanticized the place.

It is not the DC I left. It is now too expensive and too congested. As I watched the file footage of JFK's funeral in one of the cable commemoratives this weekend, I saw the DC I knew and loved. I remembered those 4 sad days... driving down to the White House with the family that Friday night and going to the Capitol on Sunday after dinner. It was so open, so easy to get around and people were nicer.

Perhaps, I am missing that time rather than that place.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Falling for a handsome charming man.

Worst mistake ever.

That and not practicing safer sex with him. Been stuck with this stupid virus since 1985.

[PassingFair]

26. !

You are a survivor.

[Fearless]

53. .

[Coolest Ranger]

7. Deciding to move back home

Live with very abusive relatives who love starting fights with me and scheming me out of money

[RebelOne]

8. Eloping at 16 and not finishing high school.

After going through 9 years of a failed marriage and having two kids, I was divorced. But I may be blonde, but I am not dumb and did quite well for myself in the business world.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Undoubtedly the first marriage

and probably not accepting the full scholarship to Northeastern University.

[tabbycat31]

12. Working dead end jobs in college

And not getting the f*** out of Kohl's the second I graduated.

[Tobin S.]

13. I've made a lot of bad decisions. Thinking of the worst requires some reflection.

But I started making good decisions about ten years ago and my life has steadily improved.

Let's see. The worst.

I used to drink heavily. I don't know how I dodged alcoholism. I guess maybe I don't have that gene or whatever it is that creates dependency on alcohol. There were many times when I consumed 24 beers in a day. I think my record is 30. I would have terrible hangovers from that crap, but I'd do it again.

I have two misdemeanors related to my drinking. Among the worst decisions in my life were the times when I would drink and drive. I haven't done that in the 17 years that I've had my CDL and I won't do it again even if I land a job that's not dependent on a safe driving record.

I still have a few drinks here and there, but a six pack on a Saturday night is as wild and crazy as I get now days. As demanding as my schedule has been lately, I don't even get to do that very often.

[nomorenomore08]

19. I've always wondered how someone consumes that much *liquid* never mind the alcohol.

Is it just a matter of pissing/puking constantly?

[Tobin S.]

20. It's consumed over a period of hours throughout the day

So I wouldn't be chugging brewskis constantly, but I'd always have one in my hand or close by. The only time I ever puked from alcohol was when I drank hard liquor. That's never agreed with me. But I can down some beers. So, it was an all day endeavor starting in the early afternoon and running into the wee hours of the morning.

[nomorenomore08]

22. Gotcha. I think my 24-hour record was something like 17 or 18 drinks (beer/hard liquor combined).

And yes, I did puke that time. Quite a bit.

[Taitertots]

27. I've been there... it is pretty much a pee break every fifteen minutes at the end of the night

[nomorenomore08]

28. I guess ultimately, my system doesn't work fast enough to allow for that.

Which is more a good thing than a bad thing, don't get me wrong...

[Taitertots]

35. The human body is surprising effective at removing excess water

It probably is a good thing thou. Every time I've ever got beyond 20 beers in a night there was excessive shenanigans. To the point that I'll probably never try to drink that much again.

[pink-o]

14. My first and only marriage.

To a man 10 years younger. I held out till I was 40, and I guess I just bent under pressure thinking that if I didn't take the plunge then, I'd grow old alone, yadda yadda, meh.

Instead, I wasted too many years growing older with a completely unsuitable husband. Yet, I still held on. He finally was smart enough to see the long road to nowhere--albeit, he cheated behind my back instead of having an honest dialogue.

What he did teach me is there are far, far worse fates than being alone at ANY point in our lives!

Oh, yeah: the second stupid life choice I made was ever sticking a cigarette between my lips and lighting it up. Have been a non-smoker many years more than the few I smoked, (I quit for good at 26, I'm 59 now) but I still can't believe I ever cultivated that habit.

[Boomerproud]

15. Not going to college right out of high school and becoming what I wanted to be-a teacher.

I could have worked part-time jobs and gotten through in 5 or 6 years. Instead I took the first job I could and trapped myself in the banking industry until they downsized me out of existence.

[Chan790]

18. Interesting.

I went to college straight from HS when I didn't want to and had no idea what I wanted to do or major in...and subsequently got trapped in the banking industry...

[tabbycat31]

64. I could write your post too

I was also trapped in the banking industry until 2008. I hated every minute of it.

In retrospect, being laid off was the best thing that happened to me.

[Enrique]

57. a lot of teachers end up quitting pretty soon

more than other professions. They love the profession but there are too many things out of their control for them to be able to do the job well. Just saying this to make your "path not taken" not look necessarily so good.

[In_The_Wind]

16. I have no doubt that my life would have been very different if

I had been able to return to the southeast after my first ex-husband and I broke up. There was nothing to return to (except beautiful springtime and long summers) so I stayed in NY and got my BA. I really should have moved south then. Just as I was ready to go, I'd fall in love again and stay. We almost moved to northern Florida in '06.

[Grey]

21. Getting married…..

[nomorenomore08]

23. Getting into "hard drugs" when I should've stuck to beer and weed all along...

Although I pretty much am doing that now. I may not be "clean and sober" in the strict sense but I have removed some pretty harmful things from my life.

[alarimer]

24. I took this job

It was one that I was perhaps not ready for. But it hasn't been entirely my fault. I needed more guidance than I received and my supervisor is perhaps not the best person for that.

Now, they have abruptly changed my job duties. I have less of a problem with the changes than I do with the way it was handled. I was literally the last person to know. Not cool, in my opinion. I felt like I was being punished, even though they said it had nothing to do with performance. Still, it upset me so much that I have been using the Employee Assistance Program.

What that has done is increase my resolve to find another job. I'm leaving as soon as possibly can.

In addition to work problems, I cannot stand this town. I knew when I came here to look for a place to live, I wouldn't be happy here. I'm never again applying for a job in a place I haven't even seen. I will make sure to check it out first.

And, moving here killed my relationship. I should have know it could do that, but I naively assumed we would find a way. BUT we are speaking again. He has actually been my rock during these past few months of work issues. I am going out to see him next month and strongly considering moving back, job or no job. Just throw in the towel.

So the last couple of years have been tumultuous at best.

[IrishEyes]

25. Going to a safe, easy to get into, cheap college.

I wanted to go to a really good university. I was so excited to go to college. My parents convinced me to go to a cheap small state school near home. I didn't even apply to any of the schools that I wanted to go to. I graduated without any student loans but I didn't get the education I wanted or needed. I would rather have gone to a better school and got scholarships, worked and took out student loans. I also wished that I hadn't changed my major. I had a dream job but I was told it wasn't practical, didn't pay enough and was too competitive. I have always dreamed of going back to school to get my masters degree.

I don't regret taking a job for less than I'm worth and can afford to live on because I needed a job. I regret staying so long at this job when I really need to move on to something else.

[nolabear]

29. Not starting writing sooner and not chasing it with all I had.

But it was what it was. I had to do other things.

[Vashta Nerada]

30. I made many bad decisions in my 20s.

But I don't regret any of them. All those decisions have led me to now. I'm almost finished with my thesis for my Master's degree and I'll finally get a decent paying job once I'm finished.

[Art_from_Ark]

31. Where to begin?

Maybe the worst decision I ever made was continuing on a night road trip in Missouri even after some asshole had thrown an egg at my windshield.

[Bill Lermer]

33. Joining the Army at age 19 back in the '80s.

I wasn't emotionally prepared for it, being a nerd of the highest order. To say I didn't fit in is a vast understatement. Luckily, I was able to wrangle a discharge for having lazy eye after a couple of months of hell.

[rrneck]

34. Waking up in the morning. nt

[Blue_In_AK]

36. I don't necessarily assign value judgments to the choices I've made in my life

They all brought me to where I am now, and I'm content, so I guess they all had positive outcomes in the end. Thinking back though, there were several times when choices I made changed everything in unexpected ways. By the time you're my age, when you look back, it's like several different lives rolled into one.

[Phentex]

59. That's how I feel...

the ones I thought were mistakes actually played an important role in where I am now as a person. I think I could have made many far worse decisions that what I did.

[csziggy]

37. I no longer classify my decisions as good or bad - the choices I made

Turned me into the person I am today. If I had made different choices I would be a different person in a different place.

Now I try to look back and think about why I made those choices and what I learned from them.

For instance, during college I dropped out of school several times for various reasons. I've thought about why I did and don't see how I could have made other choices. Those choices kept me sane and widened my life experiences.

Not only would I be a different person now if I hadn't dropped out, I would have had to have been a different person at the time to NOT drop out. My choices were made with what I had to work with at the time. Regrets from knowledge I didn't have are a waste of energy and make it harder to live with myself.

It's taken a lot of years to reach this point but reaching it makes me a happier person.

[wickerwoman]

38. Quitting my job the week before the Global Financial Collapse in 2008.

D'oh.

But if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have gone back to school and gotten an actually useful degree that led to my current job which I absolutely love so... actually it was the best life choice I ever made too.

I think if you're generally happy with where you are it's hard to pick out any one thing and say it was indisputably a mistake because all those things led to where you are now.

I probably should have at least tried to get a job after I got my BA instead of going to grad school because I couldn't think of anything else to do and I was too paralytically shy to handle the interview process. That was a pretty big waste of five years of my life. But if I hadn't gone to grad school, I wouldn't have gotten the job I quit just before the GFC which taught me all kinds of skills that helped me get the job I have now... so there you go again.

I fucked up a lot in that job but I learned from all those mistakes and they're the only reason I'm not fucking up all the time in my current job so I'm really glad I went through it all now.

[Demo_Chris]

39. I squandered over a hundred thousand dollars...

My dad committed suicide and left me some money.

I didn't use it to pay off my house. I didn't set it aside to pay for my daughter's college eductaion. To be honest I really don't know where it went. It's not like I was partying or anything. I could give excuses but they would not be terribly good ones. If I managed to save a hundred bucks a month, every month without fail, it would take me almost a HUNDRED YEARS to save that much money.

That was 2001. I don't think I will ever forgive myself.

I guess I win the thread. Woo Hoo!

[Locut0s]

41. Please forgive yourself chris...

Your father would not have wanted you to live in guilt over this. It's just money. I know that sounds cliché and it is I suppose bit it's also true. Since your father commuted suicide, my condolences I know what suicidal thoughts are like, he knew suffering and would above ALL else would have wanted you to be happy in your life, fuck the money. If you are still in an ok place, even if it isn't amazing, your father would have been happy I'm sure.

[Demo_Chris]

44. Thanks. Actually he WOULD have wanted me to feel guilty, but I get the point...

If a friend or even a stranger came to me with this same kind of story I wouldn't think any less of them for screwing up this badly, but it doesn't work that way when it's you. Anyway, thanks.

[Arugula Latte]

61. You know, it is fricking expensive just to get by ...

Insurance, taxes, car payments/upkeep, rent/mortgage, kid expenses (everything from clothes to school fees in those "free" public schools to their healthcare, etc.), utilities and on and on and on. It is very easy to go through a great sum of money just paying for basics. Don't beat yourself up over that.

[raccoon]

66. See my post below--I bitterly regretted leaving a full-time job to go into contract work.

For me, a poor decision.

I know, sometimes the hardest thing to do is to forgive yourself.

[mnhtnbb]

113. It's so easy to spend money and lose track of it.

I have a friend who has a son--at least bi-polar with OCD, probably schizophrenic-- refuses
to see any mental health professional. His dad (divorced from the mom who is my friend)
gave him $1million before it became apparent the son was developing mental health problems.
The money is gone. Just gone. Dad refuses to have anything more to do with the guy (in his 20's)
and the mom finally convinced her son to move from Chicago to Philly a year ago and live with her.

So...put it in perspective. Please do forgive yourself. Money isn't everything.

[AAO]

125. Another reason I cite my first marriage

She (unbenownst to me) had racked up $70,000 in charge bills. I thought she could handle the money, but apparently that was way too much to ask for. Anyway, I couldn't afford to get divorced and pay back half of $70,0000, so I cashed in my pension ($300,000). After taxes and penalties, I payed off the entire $70,0000 and bought a new Corvette (wanted one since I was 14). Make your own judgements.

[Taitertots]

40. I did almost nothing during high school. I'm not sure how I graduated

It would have taken a tiny amount of effort to get significantly better grades.

In one class, I literally got less than 0%. So much so that the teacher stopped tallying the amount of points that she was taking away from me because it was so obvious that I could never pass. The demerits were almost exclusively for tardiness, sleeping in class, and refusing to copy her notes verbatim off the chalk board.

[Locut0s]

42. My personal experience is that education wise HS means almost nothing...

It's the emotional growth, or abuse, you go through that's really important and is what will shape you for years to come. Education wise all of HS can be picked up in a few months of hard work later down the line.

[sammytko]

98. That is what I tell my family and they think I'm nuts

I did well in school. Graduated number seven, but would have done better if I opened a book to study every now and then.

I tell people that there is life after high school. Know people whose glory days were high school and that is all they have.

[Behind the Aegis]

43. Started smoking at 16.

The amount of money wasted, the damage to my teeth and health...it is one of the only things I truly regret.

[Arugula Latte]

63. Do you still smoke? Or have you been able to quit?

[Behind the Aegis]

82. I still smoke. BUT....

I am in the process of quitting. I am doing it my way. I started by using a vapor cigarette. I have gone from 2.5 packs a day to just a little over 1 pack. The change has been enough to cause my dentist to ask if I had quit because my gums have already returned to a healthy coral pink, and my teeth are lightening. I have worked on my triggers (driving, talking on the phone, taking the dogs out, etc.) and have broken a few (driving is still an issue and the phone can be bad). I am on to phase two, Nicorette lozenges. The goal is to be off totally by New Year's or at least under a half a pack. I am taking my time and not sweating the set-backs.

[Arugula Latte]

83. Very cool!

Good luck!

[Behind the Aegis]

84. Thanks!

I am hoping the positive changes will continue; that's a great motivator.

[davidpdx]

45. Too many to list

I would stay for starters making the wrong decisions after high school (many). I did finally start school when I was 21 though.

My first marriage was a stupid idea. We had been together awhile and decided one day we might as well get married. Granted it ended amicably, but it wasn't meant to be.

[Locut0s]

46. Those don't sound like bad decisions to me...

More like the normal bumps on the road of life. Started school at 21? Some people don't start till 30+. A failed marriage? Par for the course.

[davidpdx]

50. Those aren't the worst ones

The marriage wasn't that big of deal. We had no children and no assets so it was a simple divorce. It was my first marriage and her second. We have both gotten remarried, so she's on her third (I'm assuming they haven't divorced) and I'm on my second. If this one doesn't work out, screw it I'm not going through it again. The irony is both of her ex-husbands (myself and her first husband) ended up marrying Asian women.

The 3 1/2 years after high school were not good. Then again that was half a life time ago. I've earned two degrees and am working on my doctorate. Just finished comprehensives, so I'm a doctoral candidate now. I start my dissertation next month.

[AAO]

128. I hear ya there...

If my second marriage doesn't work, then I'm just not cut out for it. Will not do it again.

[alphafemale]

47. Second husband.

Everything was always past due. Overdraft charges in the triple digits every month.

[Locut0s]

48. If I ever get my life in order I wonder what type of husband I will make financially...

My mother can't get herself to spend a penny on anything money is only stress for her. My father can't save a penny even if it were given to him, gadgets and toys beckon. I've inherited both genes. I can save well in some situations and spend like there is no tomorrow in others. It's an emotional thing for me.

[alphafemale]

77. He would withdraw cash out of the ATM without telling me.

And I would look at the checkbook and think it was OK to write a check.

Yeah. This was before Online banking. That makes things much easier.

And as far as overdraft charges go the bank had the cute trick of sending through the largest check first. So the four smaller checks may cleared but now you get dinged $25 for each one.

I am meeting monthly obligations easily now. And I do pretty well at saving for short term goals.

Long term takes outside help. Like autp payments to Retirement funds.

[tblue]

49. Getting an MBA.

I am SO not a business person! I should have studied film or journalism or architecture. Anything but business. Was a total waste of time. I never really even used that degree. But I listened to my family instead of my heart. It's not their fault. I was an adult and I chose to do what they thought was best for me. Dumb move. Dumb dumb dumb.

[Chan790]

69. Actually...(This got a bit longer than I planned on.)

all of those fields really need people with MBAs.

Film production companies generally look for MBA holders to manage the back-of-house operations as a Production Assistant. Balancing the books, shopping for the best deal on catering and supplies, working with the 1^st AD and the Production Coordinator to hire PAs, grips, gaffers and other specialized contractors. Being a PA sucks, even if it's the office PA...but PAs become PCs and PCs become ADs as they learn the industry...and generally because they know what a good script and a good production looks like become scriptwriters, directors and producers in time themselves. The best film education in the world doesn't come from film school...it comes from working on a film set and putting in your time. Film school helps...but it helps the people that put in the grunt-time first more. One of my best friends is a producer for USA and previously for HBO Films and HBO Original Productions, worked on 100s of feature films including 10 Oscar nominees and 1 winner of an Independent Spirit award for Best Picture; he's one of the most-sought after production staffers in NYC...and he started out in 2002 spending all day standing in one place holding a sign that said "Quiet. Filming in progress" for 10 hours in the rain. You can become a PA tomorrow...they'll hire anybody because the first-week quit rate is about 90%. If you stick it out and you're good, the sky's the limit.

Pick up the WSJ or Forbes or The Economist or turn on CNBC or Bloomberg and you see financial reporters...the majority of whom are MBA-holders that can write rather than journalism school graduates that learned subsequently about business or finance. You may not be a "business person"...but neither are they, if they were...they'd be working in business instead as the money is better. Financial journalism is the domain of failed businesspeople who can write and can explain the convoluted world of business in ways that engage and inform the public. You don't even have to leave your current job to become a financial journalist, you can start out doing it on the nights and weekends...just write up a spec piece or two to show your talents and an article for a local business-news story and contact your local paper and tell them you're interested in becoming a stringer. (A journalist, usually in a specialized area, that gets paid-per-published-story and receives assignments from the editor.) You might have to go to two of three before you get a "Yes" but generally newspapers and magazines are happy to talk to stringers...they don't cost anything until they write something worth publishing. You want an relevant timely article in hand when you contact them because often the question is "What can you give me today that we can run now as is?" (It's a test of your capacities and shows them that you know what a publishable article looks like, can deliver today's news today (rather than something that should have been covered last week) and don't require an extensive amount of editing.)

[Monk06]

51. Starting smoking at the age of 40 at the peak of my physical fitness.

[Fearless]

52. Not continuing to walk out of a serious relationship

When cheated on the first time. I turned around after walking out and went back for another year and a half. I knew better at the time. And every day after that, but tried to make it work. I was more in love with a fictionalized version of who I wanted him to be than who he really was. You'd be surprised what you can convince yourself of if you want to enough. I wish I had had the courage to keep walking. It would have saved me a lot of my faith in men if I had.

[B Calm]

54. I had the opportunity in 1987 to buy a fishing resort in

Northern Minnesota from a good friend. We're talking Land of Sky Blue Water, beautiful place and the only resort on the lake. He wanted 150 thousand dollars and I was too scared to quit my job. The place sold the following year and the new owner sold it 10 years later for one million.

[ZRT2209]

106. ...and probably paid capital gains taxes...and closing costs...

[AngryOldDem]

55. Not going to the college of my choice.

At the time it was pretty much a situation (or so I thought) that was beyond my control, and it's a long story to boot. Suffice to say that had I gone, my life probably would be a lot different on many levels.

[myrna minx]

56. I started smoking at the tender age of 14. I still marvel at the life altering decision I made when

I was still essentially a child (who of course knew everything at the time - ha.) I finally quit at the age of 38 - which was the best decision of my life. Ah, smoking - the cause of the worst and best decisions of my life.

I didn't pursuit and complete my educational goals when college was affordable. I always thought I'd go back to school "someday". I don't know how we expect our youth to pay these astronomical college rates and now college for the sake of interest and curiosity is out of the question.

In my late 20's I did get into some serious debt, but after a few years of serious focus, I did manage to claw my way out of that too -all of the money I saved from quiting smoking helped me reach that goal - and mercifully as of today, I'm debt free.

[annonymous]

62. Not taking advantage of opportunities in high school

I wish I had taken Accounting in high school because I struggled with Introduction to Accounting in community college. I had to work my ass off to get a B in the class. Another mistake I made in high school was taking easy classes in an attempt to bring up my grade point average. I discovered that colleges were less than impressed with my transcript. Classes like Intro to Studio Art and Film as Literature may be easy but colleges like to see classes like Physics and English Literature.

[raccoon]

65. Leaving a permanent job for contract work. Took me a LONG time to straighten out

that one....

[sir pball]

67. I've made a few, but I can honestly say I wouldn't do anything differently.

I'm in a place I want to be now, happy enough with my life that I can well and truly say that even though I've definitely made some pretty piss-poor decisions in my life, it's all ended up leading me to where I am today and I wouldn't want to change any of them if it would change the now.

I'd guess the biggest one was falling in love with a bats*it crazy (but oh so hot) 18 year old - it got me stuck in Central Pennsyltucky for a lot longer than I'd intended, and caused a lot of heartbreak, gnashing of teeth and wailing. Ah well...at the end of the day she was a few years' diversion for me, but I have the satisfaction of leaving her openly hating and regretting her first

[TrogL]

68. Started drinking

Then got delusional that it wasn't an issue.

[Myrina]

71. Having a baby.

Moving to Indiana.
Not going to grad school.
Staying in Indiana.

[MountainMama]

72. Never, ever

should have gotten married to any of them. I've been happiest when I've lived by myself. This last time he wanted to marry me and take care of me. At least that was refreshing. I love my husband, but if I could do it over again, I'd never gotten married to anybody.

[graywarrior]

74. Not crawling buck up into the womb

[Orrex]

118. It's never too late.

Oh, wait a minute...

[hunter]

75. It's a rare morning I wake up and don't make a bad "life choice."

But I'm not doing the damage to myself or others I was once capable of...

Be kind to yourself.

[KamaAina]

76. Clicking on GD.

[pinboy3niner]

81. *snort*

Good one!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

79. Where do I start?

Too many to name and I'm paying for it dearly now.

There's one particularly bad decision I made back about two decades ago that went on for a couple of years that I don't really want to talk about publicly. I emotionally hurt someone very much in a way that was very insensitive of me at the time and which I would give anything to go back and undo and put things right. I believe in karma and I believe I am still being punished for it

Second, I should have either gone on to do my honors at university or I should have done another degree while I still was in circumstances where I was able to do so easily. I didn't because I was not in a constructive state of mind at the time and didn't think clearly about what I wanted for my future. My mother, in particular, was very disappointed at the path I chose. Another mistake that I am paying for dearly now

[Lydia Leftcoast]

80. Not taking the four opportunities I had to move overseas

--for what seemed like good reasons at the time, but in hindsight, really weren't.

The fact is, I was just scared.

Looking back now, I realize that everything I ever did that was worth while was in some sense scary before I did it.

[sarge43]

85. Smoking

Finally quit, but probably too late.

[GladRagDahl]

86. Moving to West Virginia to "semi-retire"

I never expected to be so miserable. What an awful place to live. I toughed it out for two years before I convinced my husband to move back to Arlington, Va.

[Digit]

93. I moved to Raleigh, and this is an awful place to live

I also am from Arlington and moving away was the worst decision in my life.

The weather is the only thing that is okay here.

[GladRagDahl]

94. I know what you mean

I don't think that Northern Virginians realize how wonderful it really is here -- until we move somewhere else.

[LibertyLover]

87. Marrying my husband

Shortly after we married he quit working and I've been supporting him ever since. He complains about not having enough money to fund his model train hobby, complains about doing stuff around the house, complains about having to get our daughter to and from school, complains if I get home late from work, whines about having no money. Because of him I had to declare bankruptcy and lost the house to foreclosure. Now he complains about the places we've rented. I should have listened to my mother who told me he was a loser and that I should not go ahead with the marriage.

[Arugula Latte]

91. Can you get out of this marriage?

Seems like a good idea.

[LibertyLover]

92. Yes, but it will cost me

Maryland, where I live, will require that I pay him alimony because he stayed home with our daughter. I can't afford that right now.

[malthaussen]

88. Being born

It's been downhill since then.

-- Mal

[dawg]

89. I don't know, but it's probably something I'm doing now.

Or not doing now, such as the case may be.

[Rob H.]

90. Moving back to the city I'm in now

I hate my job (but work with good people, go figure), have worked for a succession of people who don't know their asses from holes in the ground, and am across the country from my parents, the two people I care most about in the world. Come hell or high water I'm getting the fuck out of here next year.

[HeiressofBickworth]

95. It's been a series.

Once I made the first "life choice" that went bad, the others just seemed to flow, one after another but with a central theme. My dysfunctional family. Once I severed all relations with all of them, I haven't seemed to make any colossal mistakes. I had good jobs, good pay, excellent benefits and now a pleasant retirement.

[grasswire]

96. marrying (at age 21) a pathological narcissist

....and thus becoming a victim of emotional abuse for too many years.

[jrandom421]

99. In 1979

I couldn't come up with the $1200.00 I needed to move to Seattle to take a job as an electronics tester for a new company. I could have been employee 62 at Microsoft and that would have totally changed my life.

[sakabatou]

100. Going to a 4-year college

Got me ill to the point of hospitalization.

[hunter]

102. Not with me. The physical assaults ended when I quit high school for college.

It took me nine years to get a four year university science degree but I didn't have to bleed for it.

My middle school and high school experiences were Lord of the Flies.

[sakabatou]

103. How ill did you get, if I may ask?

[hunter]

104. I was living in my broken car pushed into the far corner of a church parking lot...

... because living in your car was against the law on public streets.

People were offering me better shelter but I wasn't ready for that yet.

I just wanted to be alone in a quiet place.

[Generic Brad]

101. Tolerating bullies

No one pushes me around any more, but before I came into my own I was an easy target for bullies in all areas of my life. Now - no one gives me crap except in GD.

[Gato Moteado]

129. well at least in GD you can give them crap right back and nobody gets hurt!

but, i'm glad to hear you aren't letting people push you around in real life

rock on!

[cherokeeprogressive]

105. FUCK. Being diagnosed with a 142 IQ and not going on to college? That's a start.

Yeah, I said "diagnosed". From third grade until I graduated high school I was in something called the "MGM" (Mentally Gifted Minors) program in CA. Mother's Greatest Mistake. Mentally Gifted Monkeys. Mentally Gifted Martians. I heard it all, and did my best to shrug it off and deny it. I'll never forget being taken out of class and introduced to the School District Psychologist, Mrs. Pottinger. She was the coolest lady. Test after test. Weeks of testing, just me and her. Puzzles. Word association. Time alone with modeling clay. I actually thought it was all a ruse, and they were trying to convince me I was smart to get me to work harder in school, because school pretty much bored me. One day Mrs. Pottinger came to my classroom and escorted me to the Principal's office. My parents were there and everyone was wearing a smile. I was an MGM Student.

About 3 months after I turned 16, I took a toke. Then I took another one. I had to go to Summer School to get my diploma; didn't get to walk with my graduating class and everyone I had known all my life.

Worst life choice? I guess it's a toss-up. It's either that, or

Telling my First Wife she could take a fucking walk if she wasn't happy. Now I have a 30 year old daughter I haven't talked to since she was two. We were BEST FRIENDS. I was a sailor and we couldn't afford child care, so my Wife and I worked opposite shifts. I worked swings, she worked days. My Daughter Melissa and I spent our days together. I got her out of bed. Dressed her. Took her to the park, fishing, shopping, cooked for her, watched cartoons with her, taught her to walk, talk, and had her reciting the alphabet.

I think this question just fucked up my whole night.

[grasswire]

108. I'm so sorry about your daughter.

Is there nothing that can be done to re-unite?

And forgive me if I have trod in too tender an area. I just care about fathers/daughters.

[CrawlingChaos]

109. Holy cow, having flashbacks to that California MGM program

You and I must be around the same age. I too remember a couple weeks of one-on-one testing, but it was fun testing. Everything that followed kind of a wankfest, but we got to go on lots of fun field trips.

I wonder what the IQ cutoff was. Our group included some real little hooligans, in addition to the expected bookish types (me). I don't know of anyone from our group who went on to great things. It was an interesting experience though. I hadn't thought of it for years till you mentioned it.

[Locut0s]

110. OMG sorry I didn't mean to dredge up bad memories...

Please forgive me I didn't mean this to be traumatising for anyone. Usually I find commiserating with others cathartic. My apologies for getting you to dredge up the past like that.

[No Vested Interest]

107. Turning off my cell phone while at lunch with gal pals after a funeral of a classmate's daughter.

During lunch, I had a call from the nurse at my spouse's nursing facility.
She said he was having trouble breathing. He's had trouble breathing quite a few times before.
My son had just been with him at spouse's lunch time.
I was tired and just wanted to have a quiet lunch with friends.
When I went to the nursing facility his eyes were rolled back in his head and he was not responsive.
I didn't have those last minutes of his consciousness with him and will always regret not being there.

After he died, a nurse aide told me he had been calling for me that morning. Regrets.

[Sheldon Cooper]

117. I hope you've forgiven yourself.

You couldn't have known, and you deserved that quiet time with your friends.

[No Vested Interest]

120. My head/brain knows that my intentions were good, but

we hang on to certain regrets.
In general, I try to live life so that I won't have regrets re what I have or haven't done, but, as you know, all of life is not in our control.
My regret is minor compared to most described here, and, in general, there's much to be thankful for.
Thanks for your words of comfort, Sheldon.

[Tikki]

123. Sorry for your loss... you know you had his life time of your love and attention..

That is something so important about a relationship.

I have told young couples…if you say your wedding day was the happiest day in your life..your marriage
might be a bit out of reality.

Love is enduring…


Tikki

[Granny M]

111. Marrying at age 18

to a guy who turned out to be a heroin addict. And the worst part of it was, I had a very strong inkling that I was making a mistake, standing in that wedding chapel in Vegas. Should have dropped the flowers and ran. The show went on and it took 18 months to get out.

Ah well, I survived, life went on and has been good, and I learned to value my intuition.

[raptor_rider]

112. To live with an abusive man

And do drugs. I was addicted to meth. Lived with a man (guess call him that,) that mentally abuised me. Got pregnant, moved out. He tried to prove himself better, and moved back in with him after my daughter was born. Got back into the meth, and the abuise became physical. I'm so glad that I left my daughter, who was 4 months at the time with her cousin. He threw me out of a moving car, tried to hit my dad, went through a car chase that ended up with both of them being arrested.

He pled with his charges, and my dad fought, and won. I always told him, do anything you want to me, but touch my family, it's over. It's been almost 16 yrs when that happened. The best thing, I have my 16 yr old daughter, who is the light of my life. I've gotten myself clean, and have been off meth for almost 16 yrs. I hear, he's lost most of his brain. Only working on 10% right now. My daughter doesn't know him. He refuses her. I just regret having a child with this person, however, wouldn't give her up for the world! She saved me, in so many ways!

[life long demo]

114. Marrying an abusive alcoholic

Although I didn't see it at the time, you know the love is blind thing. Then trying to change/help him. Ended up almost destroying myself. Finally getting out after 14 years only to think I had made such a terrible decision that I would never marry or even get close to another man again. Just such a waste. Maybe not, because I never really did get emotionally fixed.

[PeaceNikki]

116. ditto.

It was 10 years for me. Otherwise your reply could have been written by me.

[Orrex]

119. Saying "yes" to Sallie Mae.

[GoCubsGo]

121. Wrong grad school and advisor.

Not only did I pick the major professor from Hell, I picked the wrong part of the country, and now I seem to be stuck here because of that. Should've picked a smaller school out West. I also wound up going to work for that university after I graduated, and after 20 years of busting my ass for them, they threw me and several dozens of my co-workers under the bus. My life has been all downhill since then. And, they still have the fucking gall to call me and send me beg letters for money--money that I don't have because they took my fucking job away from me at a time when it's nearly impossible for someone in my field at my age to find a new one. Fuck them.

[Tikki]

122. Not standing up to my crazy parent when I was a teen...

She was born in the early 1900's and told me children NEVER challenge their parents'
authority and I didn't…wished I had a bit, though.
I hate that someone mentally abused me when I was young.

My whole adult life I have been cherished by this family I married into
and the Mr. and I created.

Tikki

[AAO]

124. Getting married (the first time). Keep you posted on the second!

[liberal N proud]

126. My first year of college

I lived the Animal House life, completed the first year with a 1.2 GPA.

I was placed on academic suspension for a semester. When I returned to school, I had to focus on getting my GPA to something that would allow me to even get a job post graduation and any dreams I had of pursuing architecture were gone.

I did graduate with a GPA just below 3 and spent 2 1/2 years looking for full-time work, ended up spending 30 years in a backup field.

But the stories I could tell about that 1st year.

[NewJeffCT]

127. Not listening to the voice in my head whispering "no" to me

when I was about to get married to my ex-wife. I had written it off as pre-wedding jitters. Don't get me wrong, my ex was fun, smart, attractive, etc, but she was in no way ready to be married, and neither was I. So, after we get married, she drops out of college after being almost done with at least undergraduate (she was planning on being a teacher), had some physical problems and gets depressed - and, to cure her depression, she started spending money like a drunken Republican. And, since my ex only worked part time while I was working 80 hours a week at work at the time, most of the money spent was mine before the marriage. (I had just bought a house and had no other debt when we met, while she had $10K in credit card debt and a $10K auto loan...I paid off her credit card debt and also bought a new car for her, with her mom taking my ex's old car and the loan with it.). Not only that, she did no housework, leaving me to clean up everything, walk the dog, clean the cat's litter box, etc.

(And, if you ask why no counseling for her and/or us, I offered several times since my work at the time had a pretty good program for employees with personal problems, but she refused. If I tried to be comforting and close, she said I was smothering her. When I backed off & gave her space, I was being distant, so I couldn't win)

So, I ended up divorced, depressed and in debt for several years.

Like I always tell young people in a rush to be married - if it's true love that will last forever, what's the big deal about waiting another year or two?

[LWolf]

130. Getting married at age 17 instead of going to college. nt

[hamsterjill]

131. So, do you have an hour?

Just kidding! I've had some doozies in my life, but I think that (luckily) I've actually learned from most of them.

My biggest regret at this stage of my life is having bought the house that I live in right now. I hate it, and it's standing in the way of me realizing a dream that I've had for a long time.

But...

I'm working on that!

[mnhtnbb]

132. I've been thinking about this for several days.

At 62 I've had quite a few years to make some bad choices.

First: caving to real world worries about 'making a living' vs. following my dream.

Second: getting married at 21 and then making things worse by staying in that marriage for 7 years.

Third: jury is still out on whether staying in my second marriage for now 28 years ranks up there
with the first two really bad choices.