What is your biggest regret?

United States
November 7, 2010 1:08am CST
I do not have a lot of regrets in life. I believe that even the bad things we do or go through help make us who we are, and I like where my life is now for the most part. That being said my regret is that I didn't choose a college major that I could use as a stay at home mom. I have a paralegal degree, the idea at the time was that I would go to law school after and become a lawyer. I was young, and didn't consider the fact that I eventually wanted to be at home with my children. Had I chose with forethought I would have chosen journalism or something like that. Something that would allow me to work as an independent contractor doing something I love. I am hoping to get my student loans out of default soon so that I can go back and pursue another degree, but had I done this when I was younger, I would already have built a reputation in the field and would be more able to compete for assignments in this poor economy.
7 responses
@msandip (41)
• India
7 Nov 10
I do not usually regret my decisions, but there is one incident I will regret always. It is because of the consequences I faced, which I could never imagine when this incident happened. In 2006, I had sent a text message to a colleague in the university, saying I love her and asking her not to tell anyone. The response was that she never acknowledged receiving the message although my friends had got this information from her. As a result of this incident, I became socially isolated, and it set off a chain of events in the next few years until I resigned from the university in 2010 without completing my course. I was feeling victimized while others were having fun all the time. I cannot blame everything on her and some of the people who became involved in this matter made things worse for me. I regret my initial decision because it ended up causing an irreversible setback to my career. At the same time, all these events made me get rid of all feelings for this girl and today I am glad about it.
• India
7 Nov 10
We were just friends before this incident occurred and we belonged to the same program in grad school. Anyway I am trying to overcome this setback but the negative implications of this incident will keep haunting me for some time in the future.
• United States
7 Nov 10
Wow I am sorry to hear this. May I ask... had you been seeing this colleague before this incident occurred? I am so sorry you were so isolated after this incident, that could not have been easy! Just remember setbacks can be overcome! I wish you only the best of luck, and I am glad to hear you have gotten over the girl.
@creyos (275)
• Indonesia
7 Nov 10
I have a regret for the first time in my life. Maybe it's because of my mistake too of being too ambitious to achieve my goal. I left my old company which actually I had a good carreer there and move to new company which I had became just a black sheep then I was abruptly terminated with no reliable reason. And they just said it was just a mismatch. I'm jobless now, and looking for new job and money. Actually, I got few offers afterward, but at that time I still felt very traumatic and struggled to overcome it. I just hope I could get a new job very soon.
• United States
7 Nov 10
Wow I am so sorry to hear that! That is a rough situation. Hopefully when you do find a new job it will turn out to be something good in your life after all! I wish you only the best of luck in finding a job, and I hope it comes very soon!
@Lore2009 (7378)
• United States
8 Nov 10
I regret that I didn't study more when I had the chance and I regret not listening to my heart a couple of times in the past. I regret quitting a really cool job but I was in a certain situation that I had to choose over that cool job and I regret letting my ex keep some of my things. But will I have realized all these things if I hadn't, probably not, so, I try my best to learn from it and see it as a lesson learned.
• Philippines
7 Nov 10
Like you, i don't regret anything. If ever i regretted any one of my decision i won't be who i am right now. I just let those bad decisions go and learn from them. It's the best thing to do than dwell on them.
• United States
7 Nov 10
I agree, and normally this is not a subject I even visit. I guess I've been over analyzing the whole situation lately. And you are right... if I had pursued a different career I may never have been where I was when I met my husband. Yes, you are right, and I cannot imagine my life without him or my children, so maybe I should be thankful I chose exactly as I did.
@dapy17 (74)
• Philippines
8 Nov 10
Many. just like accepting this job I hated most... But good thing I can manage to accept things that I cannot change. I'll just tell myself with these phrases: "Everything works unto good", "There's always a reason", and "Trust Him"
@joysantos (131)
• Philippines
8 Nov 10
One way or another, we all have our regrets in life. Like not doing something we should have done or doing something we shouldn't have done. But the best way is to treat them as lessons and learn from them. And as they always say, experience is the best teacher.
@CarlHalling (3617)
• United Kingdom
8 Nov 10
I don't have a single biggest regret. I'd say my entire past is washed in the salty tears of regret. There's barely a day goes by that I don't get sad about my past and my regrets. The older I get the more deeply I regret. I would like to be able to but I find it hard to view my mistakes or regrets positively. I just can't do it.