‘What’s one thing you regret NOT doing in your 20s?’ – 22 people who wish they’d lived it up a bit more (or a lot less)

There are many idiotic things you can do in your 20s, which usually involve alcohol or being utterly ridiculous with money. But what about the things you didn’t do but now wish you had?

They’ve been chatting about this on the AskUK subreddit after sillwuka posed this question:

;What is one thing you regret NOT doing in your 20s? I wish I’d studied overseas. I ended up going to uni in my hometown and although I did move out and gain some level of independence, I can’t help but think I missed out on life experiences living abroad.’

And it’s hard to say whether you should be a lot wilder or much more sensible, as the replies showed…

1.

‘Yup, travelled a fair bit, but never lived abroad and I regret that.’
–WGD23

2.

‘Saving. Pissing it away in booze and drugs as soon as paid and then not having money to travel more or go places when mates invite you to trips sucks. It gives you so much more freedom to have a cushion of savings. Also makes life easier when you can afford things. Eg a car is cheaper than my railcard was per month.’
–Early_Enthusiasm_787

3.

‘Being so reserved near girls that I liked, missed some opportunities there.’
–zoltan_g

4.

‘Same here, now I’m 27, no relationship experience and now I don’t meet women on my day to day life where a relationship could naturally form.’
–dissapointingsalad81

5.

‘Living with as much delusional confidence as I do now in my 30s – life is so much more fun when you realise that no one actually reeeeaallllyyyy cares what you’re doing, how you’re dressed, how much you weigh etc as much as you think they do.’
–hanwestwood

6.

‘Using up the generous multi-year working holiday visas available, generally only available until 30. I spent years in Australia and New Zealand and loved every second – I wish I’d done the same for Canada and the other options.

‘Most people’s regrets are not too late to fix – easy working visas are a hard door that closes.’
–PootMcGroot

7.

‘Seeking help for my mental health earlier.’
–VariousClassroom8056

8.

‘Backpacking. I have now reached the age where unless I can select a pillow from a menu, I’m not able to travel.’
–zbornakingthestone

9.

‘Investing my redundancy money in ISAs and property instead of spaffing it on travelling. I had a blast but should have set some money aside…’
–Cultural_Run7964

10.

‘I do wish I’d lived away for uni. It’s too late now, but a few years of city living would have been good to experience. Unfortunately, didn’t have enough money to pay rent and eat.’
–DaveBeBad

11.

‘Having a child. Would have been so much better then.’
–GrabbedByTheGhost

12.

‘Taking some shitty job for at least a year, to build some cash, sort my head out and incentivise getting uni right. Lost a parent between the A-Level years but just barrelled on with life anyway and went straight into uni and then work – still trying to unfuck that error 18 years later.’
–CaptainVigelius