Not much good can come from dwelling on the past.
Even so, no matter how hard we try to avoid doing so, we can't help but look back on things we've done in our lives which we regret.
In some cases, it's nothing which had any sort of lasting effect, like wishing we thought more carefully about where we had a birthday or spending more than we could afford on an outfit that didn't end up paying off.
In sadder cases though, we often wonder what our lives might have been like if he had made a different, and smarter decision.
If we didn't say certain things to certain people, not spoken up when someone needed us to or rushed too hastily into a life we weren't ready for.
"What is one thing you regret doing in life?"
Giving People Attention Who Didn't Deserve It
"Wasting time worrying about people that never spared me a single thought."- Eborys
Getting In With The Wrong Crowd
"I regret making friends with people who I knew were bad for me just because it was easier than becoming friends with good people."
"Now I don't have many solid friends."- misswallflowerr
Staying In, When They Should Have Gotten Out
"Not ending bad/unhealthy/unfulfilling relationships sooner."- Superseriouslyguys
"Hanging on to a relationship for too long."
"I should have up and disappeared the first time he was disrespectful."- Mirrorflute88
Not Taking Enough Risks
"Not putting myself out there enough."
"I probably missed out on a lot of opportunities because I'm so self-conscious."
"Working on this though!"- Fife_Flyer
"Not following my dreams and ended up sitting behind a desk for 30 years."
"Of course, I'm currently on Reddit sitting behind my desk."
"So, there's that."- CatOnTheHill
"Overthinking my way out of potentially rewarding choices."- mmmmike1590
Rushing Into Things
"Going to college before I had the slightest idea what I wanted to do with my life."- Mysterious_Shake2894
Taking Things For Granted
"Not spending more time with my mom."
"I visited her 2-3 times a week but still, there were other times she'd call and I'd ignore the call or tell her I didn't have time to talk."
"Would give anything to go back and take every one of those calls."- Fruitjustlistens
Putting Their Health At Risk
"Most of 2019–addiction bottom."
"Sober now for 432 days and counting."- CommunicationTop5231
"Smoking."
"20 years spent on expensive, self-fed poison."
"Biggest regret of my life, by far."- Itsprobablysarcasm
Undervaluing Self-Worth
"Mentally exhausting myself at work for companies that turned out to not give a sh*t about me or value my work."- fpuni107
"Being too nice to tell undeserving people to f*ck off when I should've been putting myself first."
"Lessons learned."- MrsHppy
Not Having Enough Fun
"So, this is gonna sound kinda dumb, but I kinda wish I had acted out a bit more."
"Taken more risks, gotten in trouble more, explored and pushed my boundaries."
"I was pretty sheltered growing up and really wanted to be this good person."
"It created a lot of conflicting feelings for me."
"It also contributed to me avoiding doing some stuff cause I thought it'd be bad for me."
"Now that I'm older and worked through some of those issues, I feel like I missed out on a lot of stuff other people got in their teens and 20s."
"I'm now at a point where I'm exploring that, but most people my age have already gone through it."
"I just feel like I'm trying to 'catch up' with everybody."- animewhitewolf
It's only human to look back on things we regret, or wish we had done differently.
But living in the past will only keep us in the past.
The only way to move forward and make progress is to accept the present for what it is: a present.
People Break Down Which Things Have Progressively Gotten Worse Over Time
Time is not always a friend.
It can systematically destroy everything.
Or is that just humans abusing time?
Everything does degrade naturally...
Redditor Boring-Cauliflower wanted to talk about the deterioration of life in general.
"What has consistently been getting shi**ier?"
Life in general. Life has gotten worse. Not to be a downer. What happened?
Falling Apart
Sunny Day Help GIFGiphy"My health as I get older. People aren’t kidding when they say 'I turned X age and started falling apart' it actually happens."
BionicYeti
Stop Sharing
"Social media."
Alex-J_Mercer
"Yeah it used to be all about sharing stuff with your friends. Now it’s all about trying to keep your eyes on it as long as possible so they can show you more ads. The social networks that are about sharing stuff and the actual content either get acquired or die."
JiveMasterT
“softness”
"T-shirts. It used to be that you would get a t-shirt and it would last you literally decades. Almost more importantly in my opinion, the shirt also had some 'structure' and shape to it. Now t-shirts are thin, flimsy, and formless. I feel like I’m wearing an undershirt or a pajamas shirt."
"I should note that around the time t-shirts got sh*ttier, all the t-shirt brands started advertising 'THIS IS THE SOFTEST T-SHIRT EVER.'"
"I’m 99% sure the whole 'softness' marketing was to distract customers from the fact that the fabric got thinner and cheaper. Because although the flimsy fabric is legitimately very soft, 'this shirt is not soft enough' was never a complaint I had with old t-shirts."
redditor1983
Company XYZ
"Advertisements. Not only the quality of advertisements, but frequency has skyrocketed. For example, when you watch a basketball game, these MFs put an ad in between free throw attempts. Everything is presented by Company XYZ, everything has some sort of advertisement connected to it, and it is infuriating."
will_bartnik
Bad Idea
Fast Food GIF by jjjjjohnGiphy"Fast food. It was always bad for you, but now it doesn't taste as good either, and is more expensive, on top of being bad for you."
THE_GR8_MIKE
Remember when Burger King was only like a dollar? What happened?
Downgrade
Moving Season 3 GIF by VidaGiphy"The quality of furniture. Unless you want to spend $10k, you cant really get something that will last 50+ years."
epidemica
Boo!
"Halloween Decorations. Used to be able to buy metal gates, concrete/plaster tombstones, and many other creative decorations that would last you several years - maybe even decades. Now all you can get are flimsy styrofoam and plastic tombstones meant to last only one Halloween (looking at you, Spirit Halloween)."
crappymailm
Try to buy...
"Housing costs."
Xixiiiiiii
"It's ridiculous. Our rent keeps going up, so my husband just said 'Screw it, let's move in with my dad for a year or so to save.' Thankfully he was cool with it, because we seriously never have any extra to save! I don't know how people without help can do it. Rent is so expensive it's impossible to save the money needed to buy a house!"
Myingenioususername
“the old days”
"Life and perception. As i get older and learn more I consistently yearn for 'the old days' but I’m not actually yearning for old days… I’m merely wishing I could go back to when I didn’t know anything about how life and the world actually operates. Youthful perception is usually more optimistic."
S0n0fthunder
Mainstream Down
Found Footage Video GIF by Eternal FamilyGiphy"Mainstream network television programing."
Just_Credit_4913
"I swear to God, at work, most of the crap on TV is either a mediocre drama show about a government organization or firefighters, cringe a** news stations like Inside Edition, game shows or generic 'talk' shows that feel more like advertisements."
TheDragonborn117
Oh, the good ole days. What happened?
Why do the rich have to spoil everything?
Like let us poor people hold onto something.
I'm astonished by some of the things that have been altered or ruined by an influx of wealthy interest.
Redditor papipablo99 wanted to hear about how money has ruined many things, even for people who don't have any. They asked:
"What were some poor people things that got ruined by rich people?"
Food. Like cheap food. Have you seen the prices of Ramen these days?!
Turnover
pop up art GIF by molehillGiphy"Owning a cheap/fixer-upper house."
ravenousmind
"The house I grew up in with my poor single mother and three siblings is now worth 600k easily. It was built for poor families in the 30s, and remained for poor families until the last decade."
Walaina
Hippie High
"I hear Coachella used to be a genuine hippie love fest until it got turned into VIP Woodstock."
graeuk
"Sure it’s a corporate cash grab nowadays but it was always only a hippie love fest if you wanted it to be. The first headliners Rage Against The Machine, Tool, and Beck were hardly the hippie type. You can float around as a hippie there now just as much as you could back then."
steamy_fartbox
pricey veggies...
"Farmers markets. Used to be cheap when I was younger. Now it’s a hipsters paradise and expensive as heck."
jazzbaranova
"Around here (Italy), we have 'farmer markets' (I put it in quotes because actual farmers are a small portion of what you find there) that occur weekly, and they're still a convenient option for low income families, afaik. Did I say weekly?"
"That is only technically true: each individual farmer market occurs individually, but many medium sized towns have several of them, like one behind city hall on Mondays, one in front of the post office on Thursdays, one next to the middle school on Fridays, you get the idea. The biggest inconvenience about them is that some streets get closed on market days because of them, but you get used to their schedule and end up planning your routes around them."
Broderick512
Fashion
"Trying to find a legit thrift store here in Brooklyn, NY that isn't just old clothes at new designer prices is a pain in the @ss. Also, along the same lines as your answer: ripped jeans. It used to be ripped jeans were a cool look that you accomplish just by having jeans be old and wear out."
"But I've seen designer jeans that are 2 inches of fabric and 99% pre-designed-intentional-rips that cost more than my monthly grocery budget. Okay, looking them up they aren't actually as expensive as my monthly food cost, but still: https://abc7news.com/carmar-jeans-ripped-extreme-cut-out/3424787/"
A_Polite_Noise
Collections
Video Games Lol GIF by Robbie CobbGiphy"Used video games. It used to be where you could find used games and consoles for practically free. Nowadays they're all collector items."
Negafox
I can't believe how far prices and technology has come with video games. My Atari was crap. LOL
Vroom
"Old muscle cars. There are probably 3 dozen different cars I've had that recently either approached or passed the 100K mark. in 2018 sold a '70 Superbee before a move for 30K thinking I'd pick up another in a few years. Nope, not gonna happen. Couldn't touch the same car for less than 80."
Sleestak714
God Bless
Independence Day Usa GIF by Broad CityGiphy"Living in the country. They buy up the best farm land and buy an old tractor and a wagon wheel for decoration. They then start organizing hoas."
missymaypen
"I hate this. I'm watching this happen all around me. I feel bad for some of my neighbors who've lived peacefully for decades on their 5-10 acre plot. That is until a development company buys up land right next to them and put in 50 cookie cutter houses or low-mid income apartments."
SomethingUnique141
Less is Less
"Minimalism. 'Here in my 3 million bungalow I keep only 15 things.'"
PoorMansTonyStark
"The problem with a lot of so-called 'minimalist' thought is that those 15 things end up being hugely expensive all-in-one options. It ends up being more of wealth flex than 'here are my 50 things I actually need.'"
"I only 'need' one or two kitchen knives/pots/pans, but they have to be really freaking great knives/pots/pans that hold up to a lot more use and have a lot more utility than typical knives/pots/pans."
DeepStateofAffairs
In Person
"ComicCons used to be really reasonable, and you might have a lengthy conversation with famous people there."
"They have evolved into a massive event with various levels of admission, VIP access, and VIP seating. There are often long lineups and a high price to pay for photos and autographs with bigger superstars.When I used to go (pre-Covid), I usually just went to look at/buy art; those people were usually not very busy and would frequently sign things for free. Except if they're hulking guys like Frank Miller."
MountainHeat65
We are the...
"Champion, I remember when that would be what the 'poor' people would wear."
Middle_school_sucks1
"I remember feeling kind of mildly embarrassed by my cheap Champion sportswear as a kid that my frugal parents bought for me. They used to be a generic superstore brand. So strange they're what's fashionable now."
coolfreeusername
"It’s just absurd. My dads been wearing champion since way before I was born in ‘98. He has socks from the early 2000s and sweatshirts/pants from the mid ‘90s. Paid probably $10-15 then, for a $85 sweatshirt now."
NoTalkImGaming
U still around?
Punk Rock 80S GIFGiphy"Punk rock."
Themanfromtumbuktu
"I didn’t even know punk existed anymore. I haven’t heard anything about it in many, many, many years."
yippykiay13
State Concern
"Living in Washington State."
AdamBombKelley
"That State instills trauma in me. You're driving through Canada, no traffic. Hit Bellingham, then Seattle, Tacoma, then Olympia, all those big cities around Seattle, and man. An 8hr trip to see my grandma down in Vancouver Washington turns into 10-12hrs. The road through Yakima is beautiful though."
rambam14
At Costco
"Topo Chico."
forest172002
"I used to go to the Hispanic supermarket for it. Now it’s available at Costco and I’m concerned over the mineral spring in Monterrey being able to supply enough to satisfy the demand."
xampl9
"There is a big drought right now in Monterrey and there are shortages of the water supply for most of the city, but Coca Cola (Topo Chico) is still exploiting the wells for their products."
atrey1
Flipped
"Buying an old junk house and fixing it up yourself. They do it purely to turn a profit, I wanna do it to have a nice place of my own to live without working my life away to pay for an overpriced 'flipped house' or a shi**y built new house. Every old house I ever bid on, I got outbidded by a flipper. To hell with them."
DaZozz
Housing
"Living in a van."
human_paper_shredder
"Thank you! I feel really bad for the people that can't afford housing and are living on the streets because rich people turned it into a social statement driven by Instagram models."
gogopassive
"Hey, to be fair, it's just as cheap now to do it as it's always been, just can't expect luxury. I lived in a 94 GMC Safari for 8 months when I got out of the military last year til I got my house. Cheap as hell."
WyldeFae
The Menu
"Foods. Certain foods, cuts of meats, grains, etc used to be dirt cheap and are now so highly priced that the people who relied on them to feed families can no longer afford it. (Cow tongue is a great example. My mom used to cook it regularly because it was cheap to purchase and you could make a variety of dishes with it. Now it is so expensive it is kind of extravagant)."
Geauxnad337
Being Country
Happy Dance GIF by Fort Wayne TinCapsGiphy"I would say country culture or being country. Nowadays you’ve got rich frat boys in fully loaded $70,000 trucks their parents bought them chewing tobacco and driving down the road tailgating other cars while listening to Florida Georgia Line… And that’s apparently what ‘country’ amounts to these days."
jonahvsthewhale
It's Cheap
"Polenta! It used to be so cheap! It's just cornmeal! I can make some amazing meals out of it. Now, it is hard to find it as anything but expensive imported stuff."
Viperbunny
"Polenta is just grits. Here in the American south it’s very cheap and very available."
exitosa
Poultry Prices
"Chicken wings."
ATD1981
"Some places are starting to put 'market price' on their menus for wings. I've lived in one place long enough to see the local dive bar go from 5 cent wing specials to 10 cent, to 15 cent, to 50 cent, to 'have you tried our boneless wings?'"
GreatStateOfSadness
"My dad owned a restaurant in the 90s and told me stories about how his butcher would offer him 10lb bags of wings for free when he bought a certain amount of breasts, but he'd usually decline because they'd just go to waste."
patlaska
Money really does ruin everything. Even being poor.
Each new day brings change.
It's pretty remarkable to think just how much our world has changed over the course of time.
Even in the span of a few years, we continue to see remarkable changes in architecture, technology, even in socializing.
But, as the saying goes, "some things never change".
Redditor sexykaren was curious to learn about the things which have remained constant with the passing of time, leading them to ask:
'What hasn't changed in the past 1000 years?"
Sturdy and steady.
"Bricklaying."
"The materials and techniques are remarkably static over the centuries."- fysicks
Eternally funny.
"Even in Rome they had 'yo mama' jokes scribbled on the walls."
"As well as stuff like 'Aranicus has a fat a**."
"Gives me some comfort to know that humans don’t change that much."- momogirl200
"People still find toilet humor and dirty jokes funny."
"We probably always will, tbh."- Demonkitty121
Captain America Lol GIF by mtvGiphyHigh Rollers.
"Dice."- Jedibri81
Timeless beauty.
"I work as a hand embroiderer in the fashion industry and often think if I was born 1000 years ago I could literally be doing the exact same job."
"Shame I need glasses though."- PrickStitch
Creepy, but practical.
"Using bone to scrape hide into leather."
"Plastics, metals and wood have been tried, but bone is still the best."- ironmcheaddesk
A Mighty Whack.
"The humble axe."
"While the axe did go through several major design shifts over the course of human history, by the time we get to 1022, we had already settled on a more or less straight shaft with a head made of iron/steel, with an opening or 'eye' that the haft goes through."
"If you walked into any big-box hardware store and bought a Collins axe and then took it back to 1022 and showed it to someone, they'd think the style was strange and they'd be astonished to find that the whole head was made of steel, but that's it."
"They'd be all, 'yeah, that's an axe'."
"'Obviously from some foreign country where everyone's rich, but it's just an axe'."- Glasnerven
Back In Time For Dinner Reaction GIF by ABC TV + IVIEWGiphyThe best friend anyone could have
"People loving their pets."
"Look up roman pet cemetery on Google."
"The epitaph's on some of the graves really hit home."
"Also help's to humanize those in the past."- Ralife55
When you need to sit down for a moment
"I was very stoned a while back and I walked past my kitchen table and I was just marveling at the chairs."
"'Wow'."
"'1000 years ago people were sitting in chairs just like that'."
"'Here I am...still doing it'."
"'Amazing'."- DurtyKurty
A beach fixture.
"Horseshoe Crabs."
"My understand is they have been pretty much the same for a LONG time."
GiphyChange is good, there's no doubt about that.
But it can be comforting to know that with each passing year, some things will always be the same.
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As someone who was forced to watch Butterfly Effect more times than should be legal, I've developed a bit of a knee-jerk NOPE reaction to the idea of time travel.
They say shows jump the shark when they start including ridiculous stuff just for the shock views (fun fact: that phrase comes from an episode of Happy Days where Fonzie literally jumps over a massive shark while water skiing.)
Reddit user, KingTonza asked:
"What would be your Main reason to go back in time?"
and long-story-short, we're all greedy curious saps who clearly could never be trusted with a timeline.
*stares in Ashton Kutcher face*
Pets
"I had a cat that died in 2018. He was the best little guy. I’d like to go back and sneak into my old apartment after past me left for work for the day and just hang out with him sometimes."
-BatmanandReuben
"Huh I like that. Wholesome and also side-steps the problem of running into past selves."
-nairbeg
"I never had cats but will do this with my dogs."
"I just lost my boy last year. Even though I still have my little girl, I still miss him so much. I will visit all the pets I've lost throughout the years."
-enigma1021
Jurassic Nope
Confused Jurassic Park GIF by VidiotsGiphy"I really want to see dinosaurs."
"I know, I know, odds are high it would end badly for me. I just really love dinosaurs."
-VinnieMcVince
"I'm sure they want to see you too."
-Caperdiaa
Lesbians?
"The Libyans chasing me in a mall parking lot at 2am with an RPG."
-JellyCream
"That's heavy."
-JustDeleteSystem32
"I'm sorry but I really really misread this and missed the movie reference because I thought you said lesbians"
-duuckyy
"Now THAT'S heavy"
-Strong_Comedian_3578
The Necessary Nerd Answer
"To stop the burning of the library of Alexandria"
-thetomahawkkid
"When I was an adolescent and reading porno mags, I can still remember reading one of the models saying that the burning of the library at Alexandria was the greatest crime in history."
"Quite an intellectual that model was."
-YoteViking
"This would make the year 2000 be the year 2500 technologically"
-Lo23co7mcpe
"So. Much. Lost. Learning."
- [Reddit]
Best. Party. Ever.
happy homer simpson GIFGiphy"Stephen Hawking’s time travel party."
-childeroland79
"The only appropriate reason to time travel."
-Riverrat423
"I wouldn't go. Or if I did I'd swear him to secrecy."
-rydan
"For all we know the place could of been packed with time travelers, and he took that info to the grave."
-DARTHDIAMO
Money
"Buy bitcoin when it first came out..."
-emvaz
"Kicking myself for not buying some back in 2016."
"I worked with a guy who had a sizable amount and I would make fun of him for it. I was stupid and knew pretty much nothing about investing back then."
"I had about $50k just chilling in my savings. I could be a pretty rich man right now, instead I'm broke and saddled with student loan debt. Fml."
-ParticularBiscotti66
"I wanted to buy some back in 2009 but had no idea how. Probably would have been scammed in the end anyways."
-Ferndawg69
"Imagine the guy who spent thousands of bitcoins on a pizza"
-Biz_Consultant305
Overlord
"With the knowledge I have now, travel 20 years in the past and avoid a lot of mistakes... and become overlord of the whole world obviously."
-Goodcopbadcop33
"I don't know. That seems like a lot of responsibility."
"Can I be overlord of like 50 acres in the woods and a dope cabin?"
-wrecktus_abdominus
"Overlord is good. Me? I prefer All-Being, Master of Time & Space!"
-DavidSkywalkerPugh
"Most mistakes are healthy and are what shape us. I wouldn't have fixed any mistakes if I got a million dollars for it."
-WonderfulAirport4226
Curiosity Killed The Redditor
"Honestly just to see how everyday life was in like the 1400's for the average person. Feel like that's not something we know a lot about, or maybe just I don't know about."
-ThebigGreenWeenie16
"This seems like a bit of a foolish wish."
"I want it too."
"I'd want to bring along a bottle of antibiotics and a bar of deodorant soap, though."
-Bekiala
"It was probably crap. Working long hours of hard labour is pretty much your only option. Unless you are born into aristocracy and live on an estate."
"So like ... you'd probably already be dead, depending on how old you are."
-AxeellYoung
"This is a great choice, but I'm afraid that the diseases that you carry will be destructive for the people in the 1400s"
-bountyhunter205
"Wait, what if a time traveling Redditor was the real source of the plague?"
- [Reddit]
History's Mysteries
"To witness firsthand important events from the past and see how accurate our history books are"
-EezyRawlins
"Let me know who actually killed JFK."
-BigTuna0890
"I wonder if we were there as eyewitnesses maybe it would just seem like chaos . . . hmmm . . . what event would you like to witness."
-Bekiala
"Too many to list, honestly, but definitely the battles of Alesia, Cannae, and the siege of Orleans, as well as the sermon on the mount, and the (start of the) Hijrah."
-EezyRawlins
The Paradox
back to the future great scott GIFGiphy"I want to go back in time to prevent myself from going back in time"
-darth_shinji_ikari
"This is the true time travel paradox"
-bountyhunter205
"Are you implying that you have already travelled back in time?"
-Realistic_Analyst_26
So yeah ... maybe let's just not.
I have a sneaking suspicion we'd get ourselves in a lot of trouble and end up jumping way more than sharks.
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