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Regrets - I've had a few - million...

(44 Posts)
Teetime Tue 22-Sept-15 21:54:06

Just lately I seem to be assailed by negative thoughts about all the things I got wrong and there is precious little I can do about it now. What would help is a few words of wisdom please? Driving myself up the wall here. sad

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 23-Sept-15 09:30:58

I think what this website needs is a big communal pot of prozac that we can all dib into as the need takes us, when the dark days come along. sunshine

Alea Wed 23-Sept-15 09:35:46

We do, we'll sort of, it's more like brewbrewcupcakecupcake winewine and for those who like to snuggle into their jimjams in front of the telly, rugbyrugby
Awaiting the return of the sunshine and the flowers

downtoearth Wed 23-Sept-15 09:43:46

I have a sense of time passing quickly,the Autumn of my life rapidly hurtling to Winter,without me having the time to enjoy my Autumn,I am still coping with things started off in the late summer of my life,which have a massive impact on now,and therefore restricted in everything I do,do I regret this ...no or I wouldnt be able to face myself in the mirror and have my beautiful resident teenager with me,but have a sense of time passing and when people say..normally those much younger....it will soon pass,....yes it will.....but I will never have this time again,and how much longer will I be able to do the things I would like,and have the rapidly diminishing energy to do them...that's my 2am heebie jeebies...its been good to get that off my chest as DOH being much younger can only empathise and I find it hard to verbalise my feelings and thoughts without making a mess of it and going round the houses never reaching where I am going.....hope you feeling better teetime and also the rest of you xx

Bellanonna Wed 23-Sept-15 09:49:46

teetime you sound more positive already and it helps to know you are not alone. You can't alter what's been so it's just look to the future and do the things you CAN do. We all have a limited future now, me probably a bit more than some, age wise, so plan for that and don't dwell on the past. I could have done many thing better. So what ? I've also got a lot of it right. I tend to dwell more on day to day minutiae and as has been said this strikes at night. Maybe to do with family, something I've said, or they've said, but it always feels ok next day.
gillybob that's wonderful.
anno why regret not learning a language ? In my German class there are two people in their mid eighties proving it's never too late. I wouldn't recommend German, but you could join a French or Spanish class if U3A is convenient to you, or an evening class.
teetime. Hope it feels better to know we all get these negative thoughts.I also agree with Tegan that the time of year doesn't help. More darkness and more time to sit inside and feel negative. Here's to a new beginning for you smile

annodomini Wed 23-Sept-15 10:19:15

Bellanonna, I have attended countless language classes but as soon as the OU started language courses, I was one of the first to enrol on the French diploma course. I'd been taught very well at school and had no trouble with the grammar, so took to it like the proverbial duck. The summer schools at Caen were the icing on the cake. We did start a U3A French group but this turned into a beginners' class, so two of us who had done the OU course opted out. I have a smattering of Spanish, enough to get by on holiday, and a few words of German. And Swahili remains from my five years in Africa.

J52 Wed 23-Sept-15 10:20:28

Hope you are feeling more positive today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing! If only we knew then what we know now, how our lives would be changed.

Trite sayings, I know, but we can only do what we think is appropriate at the time. Like many others I often wish I had made different choices in the past and in years to come will feel the same about choices made now.

It is hard not to reflect on the past, I also do it, mostly around 2.30 am!

You are not alone. Hope today's sunshine is making you feel better.

x

Bellanonna Wed 23-Sept-15 10:25:24

Oops anno I rather inferred from your post at 8.03 that you regretted not learning languages. Clearly not the case ! I'm sorry

janeainsworth Wed 23-Sept-15 12:14:01

downtoearth you put it so well. I've been feeling like that too, that time rushes by too quickly, how much longer have we got etc, but I had some sad news the other day which made me realise that for some, the autumn of their lives will never come, as I know you know only too well. x

kittylester Wed 23-Sept-15 12:34:43

You both have put it so well. I have started a thread about DH retiring (again) and how I feel that it signals the beginning of the end. I should reflect on how lucky we are to have got to this stage unlike lots of others. sad

Nonnie Wed 23-Sept-15 12:51:36

Those who have never made a mistake have never made anything. The more mistakes you have made the more things you have tried so well done all who have made loads of mistakes.

I was known to be very good at IT and always said it was because I had made so many mistakes I had learnt how to sort it out. What I am trying to say is that for every mistake there is some sort of learning gained.

I think it is the AA prayer (no never been!) that goes something along the lines of
'Give me the courage to change the things I can change and to change the things I can change and the wisdom the know the difference.'

I often think of that when I look back and wonder how things could have been different and recognise that there is nothing I can do to change what has gone so forget about it.

I also try to think everyday of things I am grateful for. I think that helps too.

Bellanonna Wed 23-Sept-15 13:41:46

I hope this doesn't bring a slapstick note to a serious thread but I puzzled for a while over your IT, which I thought was an emphasised 'it', then realised you meant computer stuff. blush

Nonnie Wed 23-Sept-15 13:44:50

That's OK Bella a little bit of humour never goes amiss.

janeainsworth Wed 23-Sept-15 14:42:24

kitty I thought in my 50's that retirement would be the beginning of the end and I put it off until fate stepped in and I had no choice.

But actually it was a new beginning. It took a little getting used to but now there is something to enjoy every day. I hope it works out for you too.

WilmaKnickersfit Wed 23-Sept-15 14:57:41

Bellanonna reading your comment about IT and it made giggle because I remember long ago when IT used to be about doing it - SEX! [GRIN]

Seriously though, the one thing about any regrets I have is that I never did anything to deliberately hurt someone. I can live with that.

Stansgran Wed 23-Sept-15 16:33:13

I met up with an old friend. We had met at kindergarten so known each other for 65 years. She had decided never to have children and her husband went along with that. I brought a dozen or so pictures of family. She brought a dozen or more pictures of her beautiful house. I wondered how much happier I would have been without all the sorrow and worry a family brings.

rosesarered Wed 23-Sept-15 16:50:29

I think we all wonder about that Stansgran!grin
My Grandma used to say 'do your best and leave the rest' in a very smug complacent way, and she never did her best at anything.However, it's not bad as maxims go is it?
Why do so many women feel bad about a few jam tarts or similar?I have just had a cup of tea and a big slice of plum and apple tart with cream, it was yummy, I never feel guilty about enjoying anything.
cheer up Teetime, and we are all wondering now what Mr Teetime has got....
grin do tell.

Tegan Wed 23-Sept-15 21:16:46

I ate the jam tarts because I was feeling miserable and didn't eat them knowing they would cheer me up but that they would make me feel more miserable. That was the problem, roses, and probably the reason why I've yo yo dieted most of my life. I can't eat one or two jam tarts, I have to either not keep them in the house or eat the whole lot sad. They were only in the freezer because I used to buy them for my grandson when he came round.

annsixty Wed 23-Sept-15 21:35:12

I have gone through the autumn of my life and am now well into the winter. But do you know it's not so bad!! DH has Alzheimer's but is very healthy as am I although my movement about is not good and I never thought I would get used to being without a car , but I have and thank whoever for my bus pass,. We have a good pension income which enables us to get help in the house and the garden and we enjoy a decent standard of living. The debit side is that we don't go on holiday anymore but we've done that in the past, and I have the memories although DH doesn't . I don't want to sound like Pollyanna but we must look at the positive in everything.