Venting Wasted potential

[conveniently_dead]

Does anyone else feel like their life could have been way different, had certain things gone differently? And that it's kind of too late to change things? I mean, sure I'm trying to make positive changes, but deep down Ill always know I could have been more, experienced more, done more.

That shit eats away at you. Regret is a form of punishment itself. I started using drugs way to young, and the addiction progressed into a really dark place. Now I'm just stuck here knowing that I fucked up, and hating myself everyday for it.

 

[SinisterKid]

"Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention"

I love that line and it applies to my life in so many ways. I have been fortunate and unfortunate in equal measure. Poker players understand variance and life is just like poker, full of variance and most of the time, we are powerless to influence that variance. If you believe in karma or religion, you understand that sometimes things happen that are way beyond our control.

So in light of all that, regrets seem to me to be pointless, so I have very few of them.

 

[jake3d]

That shit eats away at you. Regret is a form of punishment itself. I started using drugs way to young, and the addiction progressed into a really dark place. Now I'm just stuck here knowing that I fucked up, and hating myself everyday for it.

I'm the opposite: I think i should've done MORE drugs. Some of them could've saved me.

 

[Kaput]

Your post makes me think of a movie finale: the sadddest thing in life is wasted talent. A Bronx Tale. Hits so close to home.
Im sorry for what youre experiencing. It couldn't have all been your fault. And it sounds like you are finding your way.

 

[Walilamdzi]

Yeah, I wish my plans hadn't been derailed.

 

[Dead beat dad]

Does anyone else feel like their life could have been way different, had certain things gone differently? And that it's kind of too late to change things? I mean, sure I'm trying to make positive changes, but deep down Ill always know I could have been more, experienced more, done more.

That shit eats away at you. Regret is a form of punishment itself. I started using drugs way to young, and the addiction progressed into a really dark place. Now I'm just stuck here knowing that I fucked up, and hating myself everyday for it.

I'm sorry to hear about you hating yourself brother.
I have a similar lament about wasted potential, but part of me thinks that no matter what my actual choices were; I would've ended up here, feeling this way, just with different 'stuff'
DBD

 

[not_a_robot]

Does anyone else feel like their life could have been way different, had certain things gone differently? And that it's kind of too late to change things? I mean, sure I'm trying to make positive changes, but deep down Ill always know I could have been more, experienced more, done more.

That shit eats away at you. Regret is a form of punishment itself. I started using drugs way to young, and the addiction progressed into a really dark place. Now I'm just stuck here knowing that I fucked up, and hating myself everyday for it.

Yes and no. My life is fucked, for sure. But when I look closely at the lives of people who supposedly did "better than me", I think their lives are every bit as fucked as mine, they just work harder at hiding it. This brings me great comfort.
I don't dwell on my own failure to thrive. I think thriving in this fucked up society comes at too high a price, for a paltry reward. I'd rather just get stoned.

 

[Rosiel]

I am kind of the opposite. I made choices that are objectively considered the right choice for a happy successful life... and yet here I am! I guess what I am saying is, even if you tried your best to exploit your potential, it doesn't mean it's going to be automatically better. Perhaps your time is yet to come! I sometimes regret not making "wrong" choices and learning from them when I was younger tbh.

 

[Final Escape]

Does anyone else feel like their life could have been way different, had certain things gone differently? And that it's kind of too late to change things? I mean, sure I'm trying to make positive changes, but deep down Ill always know I could have been more, experienced more, done more.

That shit eats away at you. Regret is a form of punishment itself. I started using drugs way to young, and the addiction progressed into a really dark place. Now I'm just stuck here knowing that I fucked up, and hating myself everyday for it.

Oh yea, it's what I live with everyday as well. Massively failed in every area of life. It's tough to try to keep going.

 

[Moonicide]

Absolutely. I was born into unfortunate circumstances. I was dealt with some pretty bad cards from the get-go... But if I wasn't so damaged and broken, I would have really thrived. I had so much to offer. I know I was meant for something greater, but the damage has been done. I'm at peace with the fact I was not able to grow into the woman I was truly meant to be.

 

[BabyYoda]

Yes oh fucking yes. Like enlisting for a different class and not meeting a certain someone and then suddenly life does not go downhill at all. I would've been more sociable and I would've have had a more optimistic attitude towards life. I would've been free.

This does not mean that what happened to me was entirely bad, because it made me see the reality of what life really is. Everything is worse than we think. It made me more comfortable with suicide in general since I was a lot scared to do it back then. It reminded me that maybe I'm not as privileged as other people. It taught me how to be more self-reliant (something that I was pretty good at in high school until they told me that I can't be a socially awkward loner in college).

 

[Exitforme]

Potential by definition cannot be wasted. It is impossible to "waste" anything that has not been realized.

 

[RealLostSoul]

yup had a bright future ahead of me, going to university with motivation wanting to become either a particle physicist or a neuroscientist but its long gone. my career is over - mental sickness can ruin a lot.

 

[Final Escape]

Potential by definition cannot be wasted. It is impossible to "waste" anything that has not been realized.

I have to disagree with u on this. I think that because the gov controls so much particularly our childhood and adolescence in public school. For those of us who had to endure that bullshit, it ruined whatever potential we may have otherwise had if we had been in a free market environment being educated to be prepared early for life not babysat in these institutional hellholes that prepare u to fail when u leave and undermines parental responsibility for bringing up kids right. I'll bet I would have done better in life if my mother sent me to the library to check out books to read regularly as my schooling. I would have learned more about history and the real world much sooner.