Youthful follies I: what did you learn from some major mistake?

That there ARE more fish in the sea.
Dont hang on to the moment or feeling that has already passed, because your afraid that you’ll never find that trait in a guy/girl again. Trust me you will. Don’t put yourself through something over and over again if you know its wrong. And dont change unless you belive you should.

@TinkBandit, I couldn’t agree more.

To not bow down to peer pressure. I lost my virginity much sooner than I would have liked to because I worried about fitting in.

Same here….
And not to give in too soon with sex with every relationship, because its not healthy.

Its funny the way guys and girls think. A friend once told me “guys feel loved once they have had sex and girls give sex once they feel loved”.

I learned what it was like being a father at age nineteen.

I learned what it was like being a mother at nineteen.

When someone offers drugs, just say NO

Do not give in to forced marriage

If there is something you want to do go for it. You only live once, so make the most of it. And just be happy life is too short to fret on the small stuff.

Oh and you REALLY are all that and a bag of chips so dont be jealous.

Mainly two things:

- No matter how big a mistake you’ve just made you can always dig your hole deeper.
– It’s not because you’ve learn from other people’s huge mistakes that you’ll apply the lesson when you should.

Just own up and take responsibility about that thing. Not owning up is a bigger mistake than whatever it is you’ve done.

Always get a paternity test

Those are great lessons, jellies. Thanks! (And there are some clear patterns, too.) But what about the mistakes? What’s the story of how you learned those lessons? If you haven’t told us, please do.

I dated a girl for a little while in high school, she became pregnant. I offered my support in every way possible. she decided it would be best if we broke up. Now it is six years later, and after much child support and hurt feelings, I have come to find out the child is probably not mine. If I had requested a paternity test originally I would not have to pay for it as I do now.

Get full coverage car insurance.
Don’t get credit cards in college.
Don’t make the moves on the girlfriend of a guy you’re dating.

I learned to listen to my gut. One time I didn’t and instead listened to friends who meant well but were beguiled by someone who ended up doing me a lot of harm.

I was too trusting in my first year in college and I feel it led to something that happened to me. It wasn’t my fault, but I wish I would have taken more time to read the obvious signs that I can see now, many years later.

Btw, that major mistake I mentioned ended up being the greatest “mistake” of my life. I wouldn’t change a thing.
(Well, maybe a few things.)

I learned that it is better to regret the things you did than the things you didn’t.

I didn’t handle a few friendships all that well a few years back. Unfortunately, I burned bridges with one of them who meant a lot to me. I have since learned to drop (pull away from) the drama, and to think more with my head.

Not to repeat it.

That we learn from our mistakes.

Boyfriends are rarely worth losing your girlfriends over.

Here’s one of mine: Don’t change your life over a relationship that may not last.

And don’t quit school for some dumb reason like a romance. Your student days are the last time in your life that everything is all about you.

The Ph.D. would have stayed with me all my life. The boyfriend didn’t. I gave up graduate school for a man.

And not even because he asked me to, but because he viewed anything that took my attention away from him as competition and fought it, whether it was studying, attending my sister’s choral concert, or traveling to a conference I’d been looking forward to for months. He was even jealous when I was sick.

How could I not see this? I didn’t.

I made some excuse and missed the concert, and I went to the conference in spite of a huge struggle, but I never managed to go back to school. And I’ve always regretted it.

(Question from 2009 revived in 2015)

If I had really learned the lesson of my first, short, disastrous marriage, then I never would have made the second one and ended up with a great relationship for many years, a so-so relationship for half as many, and two wonderful kids.

So there’s something to be said for not trying to learn every lesson, too.