No one really tells you that relationships (both platonic and romantic) are great learning opportunities. Sometimes the fall of a relationship and the regrets you have from it can teach you what you need to work on, personally.
Which is why this Reddit thread where people have shared their deepest regrets from relationships is so interesting. It’s wonderful insight into some things I definitely know I could reflect on!
So here is a look into just that. Read on to know more:
1. “Stayed too long.”
– flowerchild121
2. “Hardest thing to do was break the cycle. Cut contact.”
– whitegurli
3. “I didn’t cut contact with my ex (although he eventually just stopped responding), so I didn’t really get over him. Thankfully, we ended up getting back together for good because i could not seem to cut contact for the life of me LOL.”
– 2amazing_101
4. “Married him in the fall and he left for training for a new job around the holidays and started cheating right away. We had been together for 12 years… He fessed up in the spring and now we are getting divorced!
Edits for everyone who suggested therapy: “Fessed up,” is in the incorrect wording, he announced he no longer loved me, refused to try couples therapy and moved across the country 48 hours later with his AP. So yes marrying him and wasting my entire college years and all my twenties caring and loving, on top of financially supporting a man who couldn’t even give me the chance to attempt therapy has left me mad and feeling like I wasted too much time on him. As a person I could never trust someone who has betrayed me in such a manner.”
– r22january
5. “I’ve been free for more than 10 years. I avoid aggressive men like the plague till today. It takes so much strength to leave. Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But I am free now. Starting over is actually amazing and freeing and I found my real self again.”
– drink_piss_for_satan
6. “Yep. The only regret I’ve ever had is staying too long.”
– aerialpoler
7. “Giving too much, and ignoring the fact I was receiving too little.”
– MelodyMooo
8. “The last 6 months of my relationship were totally one sided; I put in all the effort and he had all the power. Although it was tough, I’m glad he broke up with me because I deserve someone who will put in an equal amount of effort.”
– Bean-blankets
9. “Settling for someone ‘nice’ instead of someone I genuinely liked/ was attracted to.”
– embarassed25yo
10. “He asked me to marry him in front of my friends and I felt pressured to say yes. I ended the relationship not long after. He was a really sweet, kind guy who deserved someone who loved him the way he loved me. But I wasn’t in love with him and I couldn’t settle. Luckily, he found a woman that is head over heels in love with him and I couldn’t be any happier for him. I have since met and married my husband and I couldn’t be happier.”
– toootired2care
11. “Being petty. ‘If she doesn’t call, why should I call?’ ‘If she doesn’t show any effort, why should I show effort?’ etc. Instead of clearly communicating our expectations and/or desires in a relationship, we made it a contest of who ‘won’ more arguments. An obvious recipe for disaster but I only learned the lesson after it was already over.”
– vpsj
12. “Trusting him when my gut said not to.”
– Pigtailsthegreat
Being petty, is definitely a recipe for disaster.
