Over the past few days, I went around my campus, Grand Rapids, and onto the social media sites Happybility and YikYak and asked random people between the ages of 18 and 25 the same question: "To this day, what is your biggest regret?"
Now, I know this has been a popular topic among video creators and pop-culture websites, but the thing is, they tend to only ask those to older generations, like our parents and grandparents. There were very few answers from college-aged kids, and I was curious to see if the answers differed in any way. Each person I asked was told they would be kept anonymous, and where exactly I would be publishing this. These are their answers.
To start with, some answers were funny.
1. "My biggest regret was taking 8AM classes."
(19, female)
2. "I smashed a car windshield with a lawn chair once for revenge. Yeah, I regret that."
(19, male)
3. "Choosing a salad over Panda Express."
(18, female)
Eventually, I received some more typical answers that could be seen by any-aged person, but were still regrets, nonetheless.
4. "Not starting college right after high school."
(21, male)
5. "I regret never calling him back."
(22, female)
6. "Not studying what I really love. I'm here to study physics, but to be honest, my passion is something completely different. But it's too late, now."
(20, male)
7. "My biggest regret was being arrested."
(18, n/a)
8. "I didn't have enough sex with other people before I settled down."
(24, male)
9. "I regret not getting involved and being more outgoing."
(25, female)
10. "Running track in college."
(18, male)
11. "Not asking her out sooner."
(18, male)
Finally, some answers were deeper than the rest. Some of these may be triggers to readers, so proceed with caution.
12. "Not ending my relationship."
(25, male)
13. "I regret not telling my parents sooner that my brother sexually assaulted me for three years."
(19, female)
14. "I stayed in an emotionally abusive and manipulating relationship two years longer than I should have. That's my regret."
(21, female)
15. "Letting her move on."
(18, male)
16. "Not answering his phone call the night my cousin killed himself."
(20, n/a)
In the end, my experiment concluded that most of the answers I received mostly had something to do with lost chances or romance. Everyone regrets something in their lifetime, and life is going to be full of "what ifs." Just keep your head up, take chances (even when your brain is telling you not to), and keep moving forward.
