What's the biggest mistake of your life?

[StuartK]

Recently I switched jobs on a load of promises etc. I went back to working for a huge corporate and basically it's been nothing but broken promises since I joined.

I sold my C63 which I had held out for a few years to be able to buy and basically generally changes my life to appease the company and situation of taking a mega pay cut.

It's the biggest mistake of my life so far and due to brexit I'm stuck their on crap money and pretty unhappy with the place despite that. I understand why people get depressed if I'm honest now.

Anyone else made a huge mistake at a crucial point in life?

 

[flango]

Selling my Lotus Carlton to fund the deposit on the house when we got married. I really miss that car

 

[Red C220]

The first (now Ex) Mrs Red runs close.

As I get older though (47 this month) I regret not having children. I have a step daughter who is occasionally pleasant, but I have no children of my own, it creates an empty feeling that's difficult to describe.

 

[Chrishazle]

Turning down the Mk 1 Cortina GT my Dad offered me in 1973 for £350 - one owner (him), meticulously maintained, low mileage, beautiful, but I was then working in Ireland, had no garage and nowhere to keep it, had a company car when ashore. Car would now be worth about £20k or more - instead it went to a local boy racer who promptly pulled the front bumper for little side pieces and a tube holding driving lights etc.

 

[SamW]

I always try and grab opportunities with both hands and if they don't work out for the better, try and learn from them and move on quickly.

I wish I had been better with money throughout my twenties (31 now), should've spent it a bit more wisely etc but not really a mistake or regret.

One mistake which is a bit more difficult to overcome is spending more time with the people that matter, I should've given more time to my father who suddenly sadly passed a few years back, but again, I've tried to learn from it and give as much time to my family as possible now.

The world will keep spinning (or so they say) so try and make everyday better than the last.

 

[Darrell]

So Flango's and Chrishazel's biggest smile regrets in life involve losing a car and a few quid.

 

[Darrell]

So Flango's and Chrishazel's biggest regrets in life involve losing a car and a few quid.

Wow!

 

[Ted]

I didn't talk to my mum and dad about what they did and who they were. Despite them being there all my life and being the best of parents I never really knew what they had done in their lives and what drove them.
Too late now.

 

[Rory]

The numbers seem silly now, but buying the wrong house in the wrong place for our first house. Paid £20K in 1979 and sold for £30K in 1985. Smarter / luckier friends paid £15K and sold for £45K in the same time-frame.

That made a big difference to our respective next houses and you could amplify the gap at least 10x now. Having a bigger house would have made our life so much easier, although I like to think we used our house "efficiently" and paying for it was never a problem, even when it was just my salary.

Job-wise, being impetuous as things weren't happening and moving from quite a large company to a very small one. I felt physically sick for a month and had the 'phone in my hand a number of times to beg them to take me back. However stuck it out and it didn't work out so bad.

Not looking after my teeth better.

Car wise - not jumping on the cheap VW Passat Alltrack glitch a few months ago. I never dreamt VW would honour it and it would have been a timely replacement for my C270.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

None of mine are major but here goes:

I regret not moving to Scotland sooner. Such a nice life here compared to Manchester.

I regret wasting valuable time & energy on 'friends' that took the p*** out of my good nature.

I regret working silly hours/days for the first 4 years of my little girls life. (Totally rectified now though, but still feel so much guilt)

I regret not following my young dreams of becoming a passenger airline pilot. Adore my job but it's already taken its toll on my 43 year old body.

Great thread Stu. I'm sorry things ain't so good for you at the moment fella. Think positive, laugh often, there's ALWAYS a bright side me ole mucca.

Ant.

 

[StuartK]

None of mine are major but here goes:

I regret not moving to Scotland sooner. Such a nice life here compared to Manchester.

I regret wasting valuable time & energy on 'friends' that took the p*** out of my good nature.

I regret working silly hours/days for the first 4 years of my little girls life. (Totally rectified now though, but still feel so much guilt)

I regret not following my young dreams of becoming a passenger airline pilot. Adore my job it it's already taken its toll on my 43 year old body.

Great thread Stu. I'm sorry things ain't so good for you at the moment fella. Think positive, laugh often, there's ALWAYS a bright side me ole mucca.

Ant.

Ahhhh if you can't laugh Ant then things would be really bad!

 

[Deleted member 37751]

This might make me sound a pompous ***** but I have no regrets at all in my life; if I didn't like a job I was doing when I was a wage slave then I'd simply walk out. If I didn't like a car I'd just bought I sell it straight away. If I don't like the company I'm in, I leave.

What may seem like a mistake at the time will be looked back on as experience.

 

[StuartK]

This might make me sound a pompous ***** but I have no regrets at all in my life; if I didn't like a job I was doing when I was a wage slave then I'd simply walk out.

What may seem like a mistake at the time will be looked back on as experience.

It doesn't and I wish I could be more like you and not care. I have to say if I didn't have a mortgage I would have walked out by now.

 

[Red C220]

Not me but a very good friend of mine was at furniture college in South London in the early '80's. One of his class mates had started a band and asked him if he wanted to be the drummer. He was more into rock music than pop music so declined.

The class mate was Alison Moyet.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

As I get older though (47 this month) I regret not having children. I have a step daughter who is occasionally pleasant, but I have no children of my own, it creates an empty feeling that's difficult to describe.

Never too late pal, my paternal grandfather sired his last child in his 60's.

The world needs good parents, I tell my BIL this all the time; they're a great couple with good jobs and caring natures and they're letting time slip away. Shame if it never happens.

 

[Red C220]

Never too late pal, my paternal grandfather sired his last child in his 60's.

The world needs good parents, I tell my BIL this all the time; they're a great couple with good jobs and caring natures and they're letting time slip away. Shame if it never happens.

Mrs Red is disabled and it simply wouldn't be fair on her.

 

[Doodle]

My marriage. So much time, money and once in a lifetime experiences wasted on someone who simply didn't deserve it, and forcing me to spend the last months of my mum's life angry, medicated to the eyeballs and focused on dealing with deceitful and sh*tstirring lies during the divorce proceedings.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

It doesn't and I wish I could be more like you and not care. I have to say if I didn't have a mortgage I would have walked out by now.

Might be worth changing course completely, what area of work are you in?

How much can you transfer from your current job/recent experience into a different field?

 

[StuartK]

My marriage. So much time, money and once in a lifetime experiences wasted on someone who simply didn't deserve it, and forcing me to spend the last months of my mum's life angry, medicated to the eyeballs and focused on dealing with her deceitful and sh*tstirring lies during the divorce proceedings.

Stuff like this makes me realise that maybe that I can make it through anything!

It was only a few months ago I was working less, earning more, going out having a life again. Laughing my face off. Then one decision messes it all up.

Yet when I analyse other people's problems really I should just think oh well life goes on.

 

[StuartK]

Might be worth changing course completely, what area of work are you in?

How much can you transfer from your current job/recent experience into a different field?

The dreaded sales manager in estate agency. If I'm honest I would move on if it meant two things:

1. Enough income to satisfy my commitments
2. 9-5 with no Saturday's so I get my life back