What is your one mistake that you learned the most from?

Mine is actually two mistakes: Not going for it, whatever it is at the time, a woman, a job, any opportunity. If you don’t go for it you waste the opportunity. Second is go to the doctor when something isn’t right. I almost got put on the wrong side of the grass by a little bug. Oh and always wear your seatbelt and shoulder harness.

When I was young, I took the blame for something someone else did.
The result was so hateful I will never do that again.

I wish I had ended my marriage before I had my children. Once I had them, I’m glad that we raised them together but I needed to be apart from him in order to grow. And now it seems almost too late to build a happier life. I’m not sure what I learned except maybe that safety is an illusory goal.

@janbb Safety, yeah, it’s as strong as the person holding the other end of your lifeline. :(

Five and a half years in the Navy. Yeah, I learned a lot, but I still consider it a mistake.

Not to hold a grudge against a family member. sometimes you can wait too long to make amends and the person is no longer living. In my case I was fortunate enough to make amends before it was too late.

Don’t date a guy that seems to be too good to be true. He will break your heart. He did.

Not going with my mom when I had the chance when I was 12.

Getting married to the wrong woman…
What did I learn from it is that honesty, loyalty and love is not carved into stone and make sure you get a better lawyer than your ex…

The lessons I learned best are the ones I’ve learned the hard way. The hardest lesson was not to dedicate your life to someone based on their potential, and to not expect someone to choose me as a partner because of my potential. Expectations can make a huge mess of relationships and families.

Great question. As I was thinking about this, I realized that I’m not sure I am able to accurately identify the mistakes I have made – especially if I have learned or grown from them. Could it be that those “mistakes” were necessary for my growth, and therefore not quite mistakes at all?

@hominid makes a great point, which is why I suppose I didn’t use the term “mistake”, but rather call them “lessons learned”.

The one time I borrowed money from a family member, I learned the hard way, is one mistake I never made again.

@Pachy Ditto, except from the opposite perspective.

Not to drive too fast on an icy road, since I had totaled my truck and I nearly was killed. I follow safety rules at work more too since I was hurt really bad a few times, though I got lucky.

Going back into an unhealthy and abusive relationship… it never got any better.

Out of the ones I can actually say in public, that assuming someone will not pay some woman they haven’t seen 2 dolllars a minute to have her talk dirty to you has cost me hundreds of millions of dollars.