Dwelling on regret for too long is no way to live. The past is already gone. The only thing we can do is change the present. The healthiest advice any of us can embrace is move forward and work with the time that is left. However, you can acknowledge mistakes or admit to wishing that we should've done more with the time that has gone by. That's the best way for us to learn and make the most out of what's ahead.
Redditor u/radical33 wanted to hear what regrets people have about life by asking.... What is your "I wish I had started doing that earlier in my life"?
Health First!
GiphyEating healthy and exercising. I'm 40 and have all sorts of issues due to an extremely poor diet as a child.
Don't be like me, start now. It's easier than you realize. nutznboltz2003
QUIET!!
Wearing earplugs at loud concerts/shows, and during band practices. I have a slight ringing in my ears when it's quiet that I think could be the start of tinnitus. Just got fitted for custom musicians earplugs yesterday, so hopefully it doesn't get any worse. anthony0895
Penny Pincher....
Saving money. I grew up pretty poor, and my family had a "spend it while we got it" mentality. Never learned how to properly budget and just starting to work on it in my mid-twenties. ratchmond
I'm sort of in the opposite side. I grew up poor so I don't do anything for fun or go places because I am petrified something will happen at some point that will cost me a lot of money so I don't want to spend it on anything. Gorilla_Presser
Slumber.
Getting reasonable amounts of sleep. my_future_wife
This is a pain. I always find something interesting to do 10 mins before sleep. I'm also difficult to put to sleep, so 6-5 hours is the most I can sleep. SassiesSoiledPanties
Clean Breathing....
GiphyStopped smoking. I have asthma due to smoking now :( gemmynid
Having asthma is way better than having an oxygen tank. Congrats on quitting dude it's tough to say the least. zachzsg
Zero F's to Give!
Not caring what people thought of me as much. drayd38
I think this comes with age. The older I get, the less I care. I'm 42 now, by the time I'm 60 I'm pretty sure I'll actually give zero f**ks. cinnamon_troll
They usually aren't thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves. Or what other people think of them. Nosedivelever
Be Wise....
Learn how to learn. I never had to learn for school. I was smart enough to get through school without it.
However, it came back hard when I went to college. _eg0_
Musicality.....
Playing an instrument. ErisIvyBlack
Same! I started at 27. I reckon it might be a decade of practice before I can pull it off properly - it seems like such a long time away, but I figured that I'm going to turn 37 regardless; might as well be a 37 year old who can play the violin instead of a 37 year old who can't.
That's what I'm trying to tell myself when playing pieces effortlessly seem very far away, haha. confuzzled9018
Don't Stop!
I wish I had stuck to literally any hobby since my early 20s. I've flitted about between all sorts and not getting good at anything.
I think the biggest one was drawing. I drew so much as a teen. Sure, most of it was wonky anime, but I was starting to branch out into more Marvel/DC style too. It made me happy to just draw whatever I felt like, but I stopped because my parents and teacher kept giving me crap for not doing "proper art." Totally killed my motivation, and I didn't keep it up after I moved out.
Even without any formal teaching, just imagine what 10-12 years of bumbling my own way through sketching could have got me. Oh well. I'm trying to pick it back up again now. KHeaney
The Life List...
I turned 30 in Oct... And boy do I have a long list of these! All the "I'll fix it when I'm older" things that, well, I'm doing now because I'm older!
-Quitting smoking (15 years of it, done since August)
-working out (I look better and feel better)
-run/cardio (see the first point for why I didn't)
-just doing the damn dishes.
-have savings
-not being high everY second I wasn't working. It's amazing how much time there is in the day.
Now, to be even, I'm glad I DIDN'T have a salaried job before now. I experienced a lot of life so far, and now I'm excited for the "responsible chapter." clemens014
"What’s the most amazing thing about the universe?"
Our Brains Are Like The Milky Way
"A single human brain has as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy."
"Around 100 billion."
"Source: a neuroscientist filled with useless facts about the brain."- Afferent_Input
Where Our Deep Uncertainty Comes From
"This is one I thought about recently."
"I believe that Carl Sagan said that we, sentient entities, are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
"With this in mind, when we think about the end of our universe, whether it be through a big shrink, big cooling, or what have you, we get apprehensive."
"We probably will never see this end, many of us will be dead."
"Yet, we still get a cold fear in our hearts."
"We are also a way for the cosmos to fear it's demise."- TheClassyEngineer
A Little Perspective
"If you were on a planet 65 million light years away from Earth and had a really good telescope, you could see the dinosaurs."- Swimmergent
lisa simpson space GIFGiphyWhat Got Us Where We Are
"That every single random event since the dawn of creation."
"The birth and death of stars, planets and galaxies, the very genesis of life has led to you being here right now to ask this question."- Jesus_marley
There's Another World Out There...
"Imagine being transported to a parallel universe that was almost identical to our own."
"Somewhere out in the vastness of that universe, there is a tiny planet."
"This much is true in both universes."
"On this planet, there is a beach, and on that beach, there is a small stone."
"Once again, both universes are alike in this regard."
"Beneath that stone, however, there are several million grains of sand, and while they are all are in precisely the same location in each universe, one of them, a tiny speck of particularly clear quartz, hewn from a larger whole millions of years before, has a single atom that is positioned a fraction of a femtometer differently than its twin in the mirror dimension."
"You may think that such an insignificant difference would label these two universes as being functionally identical, and you would be right."
"In fact, they are so similar that the multiverse has long since combined them into one reality."
"That single atom in that tiny speck of sand on that lonesome beach on a distant planet merely occupies two spaces at once, seeming to an outside observer to vibrate back and forth at a predictable rate."
"That every atom in existence seems to do the same is probably a coincidence."- RamsesThePigeon
Loop Space GIF by xponentialdesignGiphySpeaks For Itself
"That it exists."- phillipsd001
The Age Old Question...
"It must be true that either it didn't exist, then it did."
"Or it has always existed."- realFraaErasmas
What Makes Our Brain Work...
"That somehow all the particles accumulated in a specific way and in specific quantities to give you conscious thought."- Sphyrwa
Stars Glow GIF by Erica AndersonGiphyThe Inevitable End...
That whatever our problems are, big or small, it won’t matter in 1,000,000 years (worst being a nuclear war or something). - Reddit
There are countless things about the universe no one will ever know.
But mysterious and, sometimes, unsettling as it may be, there's something oddly wonderful about the unending exploration and study to learn what is out there.
And all the discoveries we have yet to make.
"What fictional character's death still hits you hard no matter how many times you watch it?"
Dear, Noble Artax
"I have to say the death of Artax, the boy's horse, in 'The Neverending Story'."
"Watching him sink into that swamp was pretty awful."- powderkegpitbull
Bubba of Forest Gump
"'Bubba was my best good friend'."
"'And even I know that ain't something you can find just around the corner'."
"'Bubba was going to be a shrimping boat captain, but instead, he died right there by that river in Vietnam'."- FlyingVI
Stoick The Vast
"Stoick the Vast, chief of Berk, Hiccup's father, from 'How to Train Your Dragon'."- Waldo_007
how to train your dragon animation GIF by Universal KidsGiphyThe Iron Giant
"The Iron Giant."- roo719
Noble Canine Companion
"Fry’s dog from Futurama."
"Another testimony to the fact that animators can be true storytellers, who don’t always need words to get their point across."
"The changing of seasons as the dog sits and waits in front of the pizza shop."
"Waits and waits for Fry, who never returns."
"No dialogue."
"Just the absence of the dog, eventually."
"Ugh."
"Gut wrenching."- iwokwuplikwthis
Animated GIFGiphySweet Ofelia
"The little girl from Pan's Labyrinth."
"In fact I just started crying even thinking about it"- choppcy088
Beloved Dr. Greene
"Mark Greene on ER."
"20 years later and I've never watched that episode without bawling like a baby."- LadyGreyIcedTea
A Hero's Death
"Wally West in 'Young Justice'."
"It’s been about a decade and I’m still mad about it."- Remarkable-Duck-2306
Video Game Laughing GIF by DCGiphyA Heartbreaking Escape
"When Brooks hangs himself in 'The Shawshank Redemption'."- Horror-School-6713
As the saying goes, those we love never truly leave us.
In the case of fictional characters in film and television, however, they are literally preserved for eternity.
Paving the way for new generations to be devastated and traumatized by their deaths.
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/