What Was Your One Big Mistake In Life?

I lost the only love of my life.

The opportunities were there and I blew it. He was not perfect but I kept saying "I'll find someone better". I never have.

I think about him a lot.

High heels.

Who invented these ....oh never mind.

When senior in high school, having sex with a girl that (lied) told me she was on the pill. Cost me my choice of appointment to WestPoint or MIT scholarship. Had to get married and work 2 jobs (electronics tech) to make ends meet. But I do love my kids more than anything though.....

so now wait a minute, you put your ding dong in her hoo haw and she lied about being on birth control and you lost out?

hmmm.

One mistake? Choosing to go to my permanent duty station in Europe in 1990 rather than staying with 2nd Armored Training Brigade like the LTC asked me to after training was over. I was pretty high speed then, and the light colonel took a liking to me. He wanted me to stay on with the unit after OSUT was over.

This one statement, "Sir, thank you for the opportunity, but I would prefer to go to Germany." changed the whole course of my life.

If I had stayed at Ft Knox, there is a possibility I would have stayed in and be retired 3 years ago. If I had stayed I would not have gone to Desert Storm. If I had stayed I would not have been subjected to serin nerve gas fallout, pyrostigmine bromide, and lungsful of burning hydrocarbons.

I would not have gotten shot at. I would not have PTSD. I would not be a killer.

When I look back at my life, that day in the colonel's office of 2/13 Armor, as an 18 year old Army private, is the day I can safely pinpoint as affecting the rest of my life.

Trusting a man.

^^^Might add, little miss smart & loving chose to make you suffer the pain of betrayal to 'test' you?
This obviously is not the whole story..doesn't make sense at all.

this is why I tell young people, when you meet someone that makes you laugh, love and live, don't wait for someone better to come along. Grab that person and get busy living,loving and laughing. The world is filled with wonderful people and too many times people get greedy thinking someone better will come along.

There are no perfect people. Most women make the mistake of chasing career and thinking they are going to find their prince charming at age 35+ when in reality you have a better chance of meeting mr right in your early 20s. You realize this when you hit 40 and you go back to who you were at 18, its a strange process, going back to your roots. You spend your entire life growing and evolving, only to return to the innocence you had in youth.

Best thing I ever did was run off and marry the man that stole my heart in my early 20s... we've grown together is so many ways and we've helped each other through the big changes everyone encounters at one time or another.

disappointing the people I love and concentrating too hard on people that didn't deserve it.

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You are smart. I also got married young, no regrets.

People are poisoned by the abundance of choices. It seems like there is infinite possibility and people think the sky is the limit, they are going to be millionares and have the perfect job and family, blah blah blah...then by the time they recognize their limitations it is too late.

Nobody is happy with "good enough" anymore, whether in marriage or other areas of life.

Contemporary culture instills a delusional "go for broke" attitude. People don't have a sense of perspective anymore.

It's difficult to say because I really don't know how things would've turned out with other choices.... I almost went into the US Air Force, but injury/surgery prevented that. I had an art major I started with in college, but changed it after only a semester. There were some women who approached me in the past that were interested, but I just blew them off. Idk, some decisions could've put me in a worse situation than I'm in now.

WTF? I know women tend to "test" men in various ways but damn!

What your ex did is kind of fucked up, OP.

Last Edited by HI.Lander on 12/07/2012 10:35 PM

She probably really did cheat, then felt guity, then told him. Then later she regretted telling him and tried to backpedal by saying it was a "test."

born to the wrong parents

marrying a dickhead whose mother is a fuckin hateful cunt and father is a racist self impressed asshole investment banker

word to the young: if your gut tells you to run DO IT...don't let family or friends talk you into a relationship you know is bad news

Quitting all my jobs I ever had. Which has been like 6 or more now...

The Art major woulda turned out badly

good points. also, people get caught up in the 'soul mate' crap, which IDK if it really exists, all I know is I married my best friend who means the world to me, so I assume he's my 'soul mate' My point is, many times people think at first sign of struggle or growth in a marriage that they married the wrong person, when in actuality they are most likely just experiencing a period of growth in the relationship and if you are wise enough to throw a life vest on, you'll weather the storm and keep sailing along to calmer waters once the storm passes.

All I know at this stage of my life is if you can find someone who is honest with you and is willing to be unconditional with their love, then you've found "the one". Trust is the foundation of a good friendship and any long term marriage is defined by the friendship the husband and wife share together, its something money just can't buy. and the younger you make friends the more trust you can build upon, hopefully.

Thanks for the thought, but its too late, that ship sailed years ago. I'd just love to see what was down that other path. Doing something I'd always wanted to do, being who I was meant to be. Maybe I'll get that do over next time around.

No regrets,

I've enjoyed the ride.

Maybe not. I'm a design BFA and it's been very a very handy degree to own as an entrepreneur. It means I don't have to pay some overpriced masters grad to put together my advertising, collateral, websites, etc. I would say my BFA has paid for itself 4x over in cost savings with the various businesses I operate.

My dad got his MBA, bought into what they taught him in business school, opened a business with a line of credit and is now $190K in the hole at the age of 68, with nothing to show for it courtesy of NAFTA.

Born to the wrong father. Good mother, though, yet he ruined her life and his kids' lives.

Am requesting my Higher Self to not be born again - EVER - even to my dear, sweet mom.

Either way... she lied. What sort of idiot tests someone like that. If she wanted to stay married she would have.

My biggest mistake was dropping out of uni.

Life is roll of the dice ... and if we THOUGHT out our big decisions when we were making them (versus making them emotionally) then there should be NO REGRETS ... since we made the best decision we could with the information we had at the time.

Chasing one's heart is NOT a bad decision when one is young, but it IS a roll of the dice. EVERYTHING though is a roll of the dice when one is young and somethings turn out well and others turn out like crap. It is how you bounce back from the crap that determines one's true character and attitude about life.

Many successful people (most actually) have NOT gone to a prestigious college but in any case "WHAT is success?". Is it money (imo NO), is it fame (imo NO), is it having power (imo NO), is it leading a heavily materialistic lifestyle (imo NO). Success is different for different people, but for me it is being a good parent under trying circumstances and treating people well.

Here's wishing you figure out what YOU think is really important in life, and then making concrete plans to obtain that.

I graduated from a community college.

Id started at a top ten college. I washed out--health and mental health issues. I became a single mother (greatest thing I ever did--what a kid!). Then I needed work. I found a vocational program offered as a BA program at a community college. It was a shit college but the training was adequate.

My mistake was to graduate with a BA. You see, without a BA a person is eligable for Pell Grants and good financial aid. I didn't need the BA to work (which I never did). I only needed the training. I wish I had taken the core courses and NOT GRADUATED. Today, I wish I had the great financial aid only people without a BA can get. I have FINALLY fixed my problems and wish I could start over at a first rate college.

I'm not whining. I want others to learn from my mistake.

Letting friendships slide as I settled down into married life with children.

Running into whoever it was whom put me on a Gang Stalking List.

So basically laving the house.