Any regrets in your life? (Especially for the older people here).

I am 76 years old now. I have started having massive regrets about my major decisions and paths taken in my life. I now believe I would make entirely different decisions in my life if I were to do it all over again. I had some very difficult challenges in my life and I tried to do what would help me overcome problems as best I could. Now, with a lot more knowledge about my situation, I can see I needed a much more sophisticated and complex plan for overcoming the problems I was having. (For the grim and bizarre details, you can read my Featured story here). I know I did the best I could and by popular standards I didn't do that badly (I'm a retired teacher who mostly taught kids, then later adults, in locked facilities). I have few friends but they are long term good friends. Things could certainly be worse. However, I know now I would have built an entirely different life if I had it to do over again.

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BittersweetPotato · 31-35, F

Can you share with us some insights about the mistakes you made for us to avoid making the same mistake? Or are the mistakes you are regretting too tailored for the situations you’ve been in?

greenmountaingal · 80-89, F

@BittersweetPotato I picked the wrong career under a great deal of pressure from my mother and my college instructors. There was a career I wanted but I was told I wasn't strong enough for that kind of career. I was told that the only career I could get into was education and the only way I would ever make a living was as a teacher. The career I did want was considered a man's job at that time. Of course, nowadays lots of women have done it and I am pretty sure I could've made it on that career path. My mother bullied me and abused me daily both mentally and physically, so she saw me regularly at my weakest and therefore didn't believe me capable of much. I am sorry now that I believed her.

BittersweetPotato · 31-35, F

@greenmountaingal What was the career that you wanted? I guess the learned lesson is to believe in our capabilities and not in what people tell us we are...

greenmountaingal · 80-89, F

@BittersweetPotato Yes, you are right. The best way of knowing for sure if we can do something is to try it and then see how it comes out. I would rather not name the career I wanted back then. I will say it had something to do with airplanes (not pilot). And it was a "man's job" back then, though no longer. It would've created some serious problems for me back then for some unusual reasons.