My worst mistake was wasting two years of my life with a girl in high school. She influenced me to go to a small college near home rather than a larger, more prestigious college far from home. I was a grade above her, so I started college one year before her. She dumped me for my best friend one month before I started college.
Darwin’s_Finch, my heart goes out to you man. I know words on a forum don’t do much, but I wish I could take away your pain.
I rearended another vehicle at extremely slow speeds. Not knowing any better, we called up the cops, exchanged insurance cards, etc. There was no visible damage to her bumper except for a very tiny hole. My insurance company paid out $300 to her. My insurance went up. I should have just paid her cash, because I’m paying for that mistake for another 2 years.
Being such an incredible shit to my ex-wife. She deserved so much more that what I put her through. Luckily, she and I have worked through the issues and we are much better friends than we ever were spouses; however, I still regret the pain and humiliation that I caused her.
WOW! I could’ve written that! Except I didn’t take time off before I failed a semester, I got a forced “leave of absence” from the college after the failed semester, the let me come back after a year though. By the time I was able to go back I was so far in debt due to shitty boyfriend that I couldn’t afford to take classes. This was around the same time that I met my now DH, who out of the kindness of his heart, took pity on me and paid for me to take a class (he had only known me for 2 weeks at that point in time). 5 years later (and 9 years after I originally started college) I am finally going to graduate! Yea!
I would say letting the boyfriend screw up not only my education, but my credit and emotional well being was the biggest mistake of my life. OTOH if it hadn’t been for that BF, I never would have met DH… go figure.
Hold on a second. You don’t know what really went on. Sure, his side of the story makes him sound innocent, but I’m sure his ex-wife has her side of the story to tell, and it might not make him look so great. If he feels so guilty, I’m sure there’s a reason why, and it’s probably about more than a lunch with someone.
Remember, in stories like this, there are three sides–his, hers, and the truth.
Jesus, dude. That’s terrible. Did they catch the rotten little shits who did this to you? How old are you now? Do you feel at least somewhat normal? Shit, man. Don’t blame yourself for this.
Mine is fairly pathetic really … last year I found a link to an equestrian based online game thingy. I paid for a years subscription to it, and two days later the site crashed. Somewhat pissed off I logged on to another site with a similar theme, and paid for a year’s subscription to that, as with the first site, you buy, sell, breed and train virtual horses - but on this one you can board other people’s horses and feed them for them. Well feck that for a game of soldiers, at the last count there were over 700 horses boarding at my stables, and there isn’t a “feed all” option, you have to feed the horses individually … takes hours and that’s only if the site is running properly. For the last three days it hasn’t been, I can log in, then I get “page cannot be displayed” i emailed them about it and they sent back a crappy automated response, so I’ve decided to cut my losses and quit the site, but I can’t get into it to let the people who board at my stables know to move their horses elsewhere (the horse’s die if not fed for a certain amount of time) …
My first “real” friendship. I was too young to know any better, but this girl was twisting me this way and that and just generally making my life miserable. She would consistently make me feel guilty beyond comprehension about something minor and threaten me with not being my friend anymore (a Big Deal at the time, despite the good it would have done me) even though I was the one who called her with a greivence about something she had done to me. I’m thinking this ‘friendship’ might be why I have such guilt issues and a complete inability to interact with anyone, especially when I first meet them. Even once I get to know them I find myself doubting myself at every little thing I say or do.
But of course, because of that delightful complex, I can’t help but think “I’m probably just trying to shift the blame off of myself; that’s what everyone’s giong to say, and they’re probably right.”
Reminds me of this Or George Constanza vs. the Andrea Doria survivor.
I went to a small private high school, full of cliques of various levels of snobbishness. My freshman year we had a math teacher (geometry) who was really cool to us geekier kids (started math club, etc.), but was teased mercilessly by the “in” kids. My biggest mistake was that I succumbed to peer pressure and by the end of the year stopped talking to him too. I’m really sorry for that.
WOW Finch that’s terrible. But I really can’t see it as a “mistake” that you made. For God’s sakes you were 4 years old. 4 year old kids trust everbody no matter what their parents say about strangers. Especially other older kids that they invariabley look up to. I think your story comes under the heading “when bad things happen to good people”
This is such a hard one. I’ve made quite a few bad decisions, financial and personal, mostly from listening to and acting on other peoples advice. So, I guess not having more faith in my own instincts and judgement has been my worst mistake.
Getting married. Yeah, in order to live on a military base I needed to, but I would have so much rather have just lived in Japan with the guy than been married, cause then I now wouldn’t have to deal with a divorce. Next time I get married it won’t, unfortunately, be my first time, and I believe marriage should be once and always.
When I was fresh out of nursing school, I make an error that contributed to my patient’s death.
He had end stage leukemia. He had IV fluids running very slowly because his kidneys were failing. I left him alone for 45 minutes.
I was responsible for 38 patients that night, and had to give some meds and just check everyone. There were 2 other caregivers, but they weren’t RNs so I had to check their work.
I got back to the young man, and found him struggling to breathe. The IV bag I had hung just before I left him was empty. I caused him to go into pulmonary edema. Fluid accumulates in the lungs and ultimately the person drowns.
This man was dying, that was never in question. I didn’t get into any trouble. The physician and my head nurse, both felt it was a minor mistake. They both kept telling me he would have died that night no matter what I’d done. I think that was worse for me. Had I been punished, I would have paid for it and moved on.
I still have nightmares about it and it happened in 1974.
I know it made me a better nurse. I was always on guard, so afraid I’d kill someone else.
picunurse: that’s a heavy burden you’ve been carrying. 45 minutes doesn’t seem all that long; I’ve been generally appalled at all the hospital nursing care I’ve ever seen, unfortunately, and 45 minutes been checkups seems a very short time to me. I became totally hysterical when my mum was in the hospital, just coming out of surgical anaesthesia, when the bimbo idiot nurse asked her if she was allergic to codiene, without bothering to read the chart. My mom replied “Mmm…” and the nurse proceeded to inject her. I went to the nurses station and let out all of the pent-up anxiety of the past few days, and I’ve never regretted it. (She wasn’t allergic but she could have been, and doubtless you know the consequences.)
Anyway, I really feel for you to have posted something so deep and personal, and I hope you are at peace with yourself. I wasn’t there but the fact that you care at all, and have been caring since 1974, counts for a lot.
Thank you masonite I did get past it. It did make me a better nurse. I think many healthcare professionals never internalize the simple fact they hold lives in their hands. I was given that insight early.
I’m retired now. I started out as a medical corpsman in the USAF in 1965.
I loved nursing right up to the moment I started hating it. One day I “saw” the pain I had to inflict everyday. Once seen, I couldn’t unsee it. Maybe I just got tired.
Now, I craft stained glass, I paint, I read, work in the garden (I needn’t mention dishes, laundry, vacuuming. and so on.)
I get up when I want and sleep when I want. I have 30 years of sleep to catch up on.
Jeez, are you reading my mind? My life in a nutshell, unfortunately.
I also made the huge mistake of not acknowledging a few years ago that I was completely in love with a terrific lady, basically for the reason cited above. Oh well, that’s life.
Or George Constanza vs. the Andrea Doria survivor.