What a hard thing to live with.

"When I was 14 we learned my mother was going to die from kidney failure within a week. It wasn't very surprising at the time because she had been in multiple hospitals for a year and a half at that point due to various complications.

I had the chance to be in the room with her when they took her off life support, I wasn't. I have made some stupid mistakes in my life, but nothing compares to that. I regret not seeing her that last time so much that it haunts me to the point of tears at times."

DomzyP

As long as you're a better person now.

"Picking on people in high school. I was picked on in elementary and middle school and as soon I gained some popularity from being good at sports I turned into a bully.

I did it because I wanted the same people who were mean to me to like me. Every time I think back to those days I get sick to my stomach."

Poopdicks69

Ouch!

"I ate buffalo wings then wiped sweat from my eye."

the_upside_down06

That takes a lot of strength.

"Not coming out sooner about sexual abuse I had experienced whenever I was a child, it took 15 years for me to muster up the courage to tell a soul. If I would have told someone earlier on I could have saved myself years of grief and received actual mental care instead of developing horrible coping methods.

I'm doing much better than I had been, thankfully, but I feel like I've lost so much of my life to it."

DoctorDankage

Looking at the positives.

"Letting other people dictate my life. Spent my childhood doing it, even up at a college I hated then flunked out of. And being under your parents' thumb and not standing up for yourself tends to lead to being an adult that is very unprepared to face the world without depending on a parent - which is likely their intention.

Breaking the cycle was hard, but worth it. And I've learned as an adult that I like the life I created for myself and don't need to bend to pressure over certain things. (having kids, etc.) So on the one-hand, I do miss a lot of things I missed out on in my early life because I let myself be controlled. On the other, there's still plenty of my life left to enjoy now that I've recognized the issue and cut it off."

beepborpimajorp

Don't blame yourself.

"Not talking to my father more for the last two weeks he was alive. He and my mom were in the middle of a divorce and he was moving out. He never really talked about his feelings, never even seen him cry. I figured he would talk about it when he was ready, so I just went on business as usual. He killed himself on the day he was supposed move out. Found out later from my mom that he had pretty bad depression while they were married but never sought help.

I would give anything just to be able to go back and talk with him some more."

Deathsombrero

Yikes.

"Becoming friends with a possible psychopath.

Thank god we aren't friends anymore but she wrote stories about murdering me when she was 7 in school but I was too naive to notice she was talking about me at the time."

A-duck-on-reddit

Learn from your mistakes.

"Not getting my bipolar daughter help when I just knew she had it when she was around three. Everyone told me I was crazy. I was right.

When I finally said f you all I'm taking her to therapy when she was six and a half she was diagnosed Bipolar, and with major depression and chronic PTSD. Different tests by different doctors over the period of a year and diagnoses all matched.

Went through the gamut of trying out different meds because the first two therapists threw the misdiagnoses of ADHD and Autism at her without testing her. (It makes me sad for truly autistic and/or ADHD kids and for their parents because those conditions are such umbrella diagnoses nowadays. True sufferers are taken far less seriously and that's infuriating.) Very common because doctors are so fearful of messing up a kid's life by labeling them with such a severe condition as Bipolar.

Finally I have her meds sorted and she's been in weekly therapy for over two years now. She practices coping tools that some adults haven't quite learned and accepted yet.

I wish I'd listened to my gut. However, around a year ago when her twin manifested the same behaviors her sister had displayed before I intervened I was quick to get her twin help. Same diagnoses.

They really never stood a chance. My maternal heritage is one bipolar person after another. Same with their father's heritage with his maternal heritage. Our genetics suck and of course we have the kind that doesn't go away.

Anyway, parents-listen to yourself if you suspect your child is mentally ill. Fuck everyone else. Fuck stigmas. Fuck non believers. Fuck natural oil armchair doctors. They can all take a shit on their own bread."

THUN-derrrr-CATica

It's not your fault.

"Letting my abusive mother dictate how I felt about myself for so many years, and forgiving her when she'd put in the bare minimum of effort after years of absenteeism. If I'd ever demanded an apology and held myself up with respect she'd have shown her true colours. Instead I let myself get into situations where I relied on her because I wanted to believe I had a family who cared for me.

Her issues have nothing to do with me and it's not my responsibility to carry them. I have wonderful friends and a great sister. That's more than a lot of people get. Flogging the dead horse which is my relationship with my mother gets in the way of my gratitude for all the great things in my life."

CaptainTrips1919

That could've been bad.

"I forged a prescription once. The pharmacist caught on and lied to me about it and was "holding it to fill it tomorrow" when the drugs came in.

Luckily I grabbed it off the counter and ran out of the store. I would have been in deep sh!t."

SpaceGeekCosmos

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact

the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/