30 year olds of Reddit, what's something you regret about your twenties?

Caring what assholes thought of me, and letting it affect my life choices and not bailing from untenable situations. Really, I should have told SO many people to fuck off and just ignored their opinions. It's an acquired skill. (Oddly, mostly career/college related and not relationship related.)

Denying that therapy was useful. Just going to a therapist to listen to my BS and give me a slightly objective opinion? Gold. No idea why I was so resistant.

Not cutting toxic family members out of my life. Wasted energy x1000. No regrets when my dad died when I was 30something and I cut him out at 16. I wish he had been a happier, less damaged human and had found peace, but I had no ability to affect that. I mean, I guess it is more that I felt (and was told and believed it) that I was the bad person for going no contact. When he died, I realized I didn't regret my choice. I just regretted this was not the life I would have a father. So. Don't regret protecting yourself like that.

Oh and this was a choice at 16, and I'm 42 now and so it's outside the scope of the question, but doing IV heroin at 16 reprogrammed my brain so badly... See answer #2. Your life is not over at 16 or 26 or 36 or whatever. Don't believe it is and choose the nuclear option.

I don't think any of these things are things you learn any way but the hard as fuck way. Unfortunately.

/r/AskReddit Thread