What is the worst mistake you have ever made in your life?

When I was in my 30’s, I was working 60–80 hours a week, usually 6 days and sometimes 7.
On my day off (when I got one) I would stay home in the morning, and make breakfast, do laundry, do the dishes, watch the news shows, then around noon we would take my family to see my Mom, and spend the afternoon with her.
I needed all that to relax from the week.
What my mistake was: I didn’t have my kids butts parked in Church on Sunday mornings.
I thought I could guide them and all, but I was so busy at work, and so preoccupied at home I didn’t. I was fighting off the bills by working too much.
This mistake wounds me every day. I should have worked less, spent less, and taken the kids to church.

Filmfann. If your children turned out okay, then your mistake was very minor. You had your children at heart, by working all the time to provide for them. I think your mistake will be forgiven.

Remember, there are just so many hours in a day. But, you already knew this.

I’m not sure that I know yet, but it will show up one day. I believe everything that’s happened or that I’ve done so far has had a purpose.

I’m not sure either, although I will admit that back in the 80’s I got my wife “The Epilator” and after her trying it one time wanted to kick my ass sideways.

Good question. I don’t think any one thing that I have done has been terribly harmful (although, this is only due to pure luck, because I have made some very bad decisions that fortunately didn’t turn out badly), rather, my biggest mistakes are very little things that I have done for a very long time that have had an very large overall effect.

I valued my schoolwork far too heavily in high school, made myself sick with stress, rarely went out and had a good time and made meaningful memories, and turned myself into a habitual worrier. I regret that a lot.

I relied on help from others for too much throughout my childhood and now I lack many common sense skills and am not as independent as I would like to be, which I regret.

I talked my mom into letting me go into school to take a test instead of letting her take me to the emergency room, like she wanted to do, on a day that I was not feeling well. It turned out I had a severe infection, and I almost died. I went into septic shock the next day, and I was in the hospital at that time, but if the infection had been further along by just one day, I would have been at school when I went into septic shock and so I probably would have died. So that was a really bad mistake, but I was lucky enough that I didn’t suffer the consequences of it.

1. Hurting my mother’s feelings.
2. Not studying hard enough at university.

My biggest mistake has been not accepting help when it was offered sincerely and wasting time fighting through situations alone because I was too stubborn to listen to wise words.

When I was sixteen I dyed my hair blonde &......this is the best part…...went to the hairdressers, voluntarily, of my own free will & had myself a perm.
Yes that’s right, I looked like a freak outta the Hair Bear Bunch!!
Ahh, the folly of youth.

Marrying my ex wife. Talk about emotional outbreaks.

I’ll take the 5th, suffice it to say I used to be a wanted man.

A little over a year ago, I got into a scrap/fisticuffs with a misfit where I was injured badly.

The worse mistake I made in life was [redacted], but that happened in the midst of maybe the first mistake of not making full use of junior college when it was free. The second biggest mistake was not getting in on the ground floor of Internet porn when it 1st got started and I got offered an opportunity. I thought ”Sure, who in their right mind will pay $2.50 cent a minute to have some strange woman over the phone or the Internet talk dirty to them?”BOY was I wrong! That bad choice cost me 100s of millions, in my book. Certainly a moment I wish I could go back and beat my ass over, and tell myself to TAKE THE DAMN DEAL.

Almost all my mistakes have redemptive value- I learned from it, grew from it or got something out of it, but if I had to pick one, it would be taking the job I have now. I love teaching and the kids, but not the school climate.

linquaphile, you are a school teacher. Where you teach, are the students respectful toward their teachers and school? I ask this question, since it seems that more teachers have been assaulted by students, than ever before. It is so bad in my city, that police officers are assigned to each school, in order to maintain a civil order. Response is appreciated. jp

@john65pennington Ahm… I think I’ll PM you because, as some others have seen on other threads, I can get verbose on the topic of teaching. I’m surprised there aren’t more teachers on Fluther…
The nutshell answer… no, they’re generally not respectful at all. Some kids are truly awesome, but they’re the exception. More teachers are getting assaulted, yes, I agree (but not at my school), and that will continue as long as teachers are portrayed as the scapegoats, the bad guys, the inept, etc.
The reason why taking this job I have now was the worst decision is because I gave up a lot to take this job. I gave up a house, a dream MA program, and a strong community of supportive friends because I thought I was doing best for my kids. On my first day here, I am not kidding…kids rearranged the desks away from me and one asked me what the hell I had that was worth his time.

Not returning to NYC when I had the chance.