17 Things We Regret Not Doing in Our 20s

"Life is never going to be the same, not the next moment, not the next month and definitely not a few years from now."

Our younger years are often wasted trying to ‘sort life out’. It’s only later that we look back and realize that we had been chasing the wrong ideas of success and happiness. A life with regrets is a life wasted. Here are 17 things you’re going to regret not doing in your 20s later in life.

1. Not Taking Fitness Seriously

Being comfortable in your own skin is one thing and being unhealthy is another. Don’t get fitter for the world to see. Do it because you owe it to your body. People are going to come and go, the only thing that will stay with you till the end of your life is your body. Get in shape now so your body stays young even when you’re 40.

2. Not Saving Money

We know you’ve heard that a lot but tell you what, it’s one of the biggest regrets you’ll have when you get older. Life isn’t easy, especially when you’re on your own. You may not be able to afford most things you can right now, thanks to your parents’ money, later in life. Even the smallest savings made today are going to count then. Save now so you don’t have to struggle later.

3. Not Taking Take Care Of Yourself

While you’re dying your hair black, hiding the greys at the age of 35, you’re going to look back and wish you had taken better care of yourself. You need to take grooming and hygiene a lot more seriously now if you don’t want to turn into a balding man with yellow teeth and bad breath at 35.

4. Not Doing What You Love

You’re going to regret not quitting your job and starting something of your own, the ultimate dream you always had as a child. It might be the biggest dilemma right now, but few years from now, you’re going to curse yourself for not taking that plunge and doing what you absolutely love.

5. Being In A Bad Relationship

A lot of us spend our younger years trying to be with people we clearly don’t love only because we’re afraid we may never find someone as incredible as them. But get this right – it’s not about finding the perfect one, but the ‘right one’. And you shall never find them if you can’t let go of the wrong ones. No, you’re not going to end up alone. Even if you do, it’s going to feel much better than being with someone you don’t love.

6. Not Travelling

You’ll never be freer. Life is never going to be easier. If not today, then when? You don’t want to be sitting in a glass office at the age of 35, caught up in back to back meetings, wondering why you never took that Europe trip when you actually could! You’ll be tied up with responsibilities and liabilities and it’s going to suck if you have no travel memories from your 20s to recall! Pack your bags and go see the world, for life is never going to be this young again!

7. Not Spending Time With Family

We tend to neglect our parents as we grow up. Somehow, we’re always too busy to ask them how their day went or help them around the house. There’s going to come a time when they may not be around and all you’re going to be left with is a hollowness that will be really difficult to fight. You’re going to hate yourself for not being a good son, for not being there for people who matter the most. So, take out time for your family because they’re going to add a lot more value to your life than anyone else.

8. Working Too Much

Staying till late at work every night might make you feel like the next successful person in the making right now, but 10 years later, you’re going to regret having wasted some of the most precious moments in a dingy workplace. You’re going to regret not going out with friends, not taking out time for yourself, not enjoying life!

9. Getting Married Early

It might sound like a brilliant idea to get married young and ‘start your life early’ but very soon, you’re going to regret maturing too early. You may even realize you should have never married, or worse, that you never really loved your partner. You’re going to realize you could have used those years in focusing on your career instead. It’s going to occur to you then that it would have been wiser to have given yourself some more time before you settled down.

10. Not Living Out

There will come a time when you realize you missed out on a very essential experience – of being on your own, away from the people you know. You’re going to wish you had applied in a University abroad or at least stayed away from family even if for a little while and lived that ultimate bachelor dream!

11. Not Maintaining Friendships

All your friends are going to drift away as you grow older and you’re going to wish you invested more whole-heartedly in that one friend who really mattered. You’re going to wish you didn’t abandon your friends for the silliest reasons.

12. Worrying Too Much

The biggest problems you have right now won’t even matter a few years down the line. The exams that are making you crumble under pressure are going to hold absolutely no consequence. And then you’ll wish you hadn’t wasted so much of your time stressing over the most stupid things all the damn time.

13. Not Apologizing

You’ll realise you could have saved a lot of relationships and friendships if only you weren’t such an egoistic prick. If only you had apologised when there was still time. If only you’d valued people in your life more.

14. Not Being A Lot More Active

You’re going to feel stupid for wasting so much time sitting at home doing absolutely nothing when you could have gone out and met new people, experienced more and made memories! You’re going to regret not getting off your phone and doing something real.

15. Not Confessing Your Feelings To Girls You Liked

You’re going to grow up into a confident man and realize it was never that hard. Walking up to a woman and telling her you find her cute was no big deal! It didn’t require balls of steel. And you’re going to feel really, really stupid for being such a chicken and letting go of so many opportunities!

16. Not Giving Yourself Importance

You will grow up to learn that you cannot possibly please everyone and it will make you realize that putting others before yourself was never a good idea. You will regret not giving yourself enough importance, not staying true to yourself, and being too harsh to yourself.

17. Not Doing Something Crazy

You’re going to wish you had done something unbelievably crazy when young. You’d wish you hadn’t given up so easily on life. You’d wish you didn’t have such an ordinary life. You’d wish you did it all in your 20s that you cannot anymore!

The One Piece Of Advice That Will Change The Way You Look At Yourself

If we told you you’re doing just fine in life, would you believe? Probably not. None of us would, to be honest. Because, look at all these people around who have it all sorted, you know what they want to do in life, these people who are younger than you and are still much more successful, these people who are already buying their own cars and houses while we’re still shuttling between jobs. See the place that thought just put you in? That’s exactly where we all go wrong. That’s exactly how we jeopardize our happiness and mental peace. © Unsplash There comes a time in our lives when we feel that we’ve lost the grip, that life has slipped away and we’re lagging too far behind to ever be able to catch up. You’ve already lost the race; it seems, before even hitting your peak. Only, life isn’t supposed to be a race. You’re not supposed to be racing against other people. You didn’t come to this world to compete. So, step out, because you never really signed up for this rat race.

RRG

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