What's a life lesson you learned the hard way that you'd want to share with others to help them avoid the same mistake?

The best time to start regularly exercising and eating at least moderately healthy food is 10 years ago, the second best time is now.

If someone left their partner to be with you, they're capable of leaving you to be with someone new.

If you see a toilet in your dreams, don't use it!

Just go to the fucking dentist.

Put your money where you spend your time. Don't spend money on something if you won't be using it.

You spend a lot of time sleeping, so get a nice, comfortable mattress. Spend a lot of time on your feet at work? Get durable, comfortable shoes/boots, and maybe some nice insoles so you don't limp back to your car from pain. Spend a lot of time playing a F2P video game? Go ahead and buy that DLC or cosmetic item to make it more fun, and support the devs to keep the game going.

The list can go on, but before any non-trivial purchase, I ask myself how much time I will spend using it.

If you’re falling in love with someone who’s “perfect” you’re probably falling in love with someone who only exists in your head and not the real person. That’s a disservice to everyone involved.

You will not be rewarded for doing it fast. You will be penalized for doing it wrong.

From my therapist: In the absence of a crystal ball the best predictor of someone's future behavior is their past behavior.

Don't take shortcuts doing DIY. Prepare, use the right tools. Don't skip steps or do things "quick and dirty". Clean up afterwards.

Red flags in relationships are serious business and don't go away. I wish desperately I never got married, and when someone goes to the point of deliberately running over a squirrel to upset you, you've really hooked up with a sociopath. If your gut says go, go before you tie your finances to that of a crazy person.

Tell people in your life what they mean to you and that you love them.
Often and always, you never know how much time you have together.

Call your mom, dad, your grandparents, spend time with your kids, with your nieces and nephew. Tell them all, that you are proud of them or grateful for them and that you love them.

We always think we have all the time in the world to spend with family and people we love. But if one of their lives is cut short, you might regret it forever!

Do NOT invite anyone into your home that you do not know. And do NOT save someone from eviction and have them live with you if you only barely know them.

I just went through six months of hell with two freeloading pieces of shit who never cleaned up after themselves and almost never lifted a finger to help in the house — all while getting free room and board, free food, etc.

My kid happened to be friends with a kid whose 64 year old mother (kid was adopted) got evicted and we knew them in passing for a good decade. We were the ONLY ones to help, despite them being a part of a church with hundreds of people.

I now know exactly why no one helped them, and know exactly why they were evicted.

Just don’t do it. It’s not worth the stress and the money.

Never start a machined bolt/nut with your electric drill. Start it by hand first.

Brush teeth 3x day, floss 2x day, checkup 2x year

It really helps later. Like life altering

If you're going to "chase your dreams," it might be a good idea to first figure out whether they actually really are yours.

If you have to force it, you're going to break it.

Or in my case, tear it.

Just get the tattoo. Your parents are already disappointed anyway. Live your life.

Cleaning is a skill. Learn to like it young and never have a messy home.

I’ve spent too much money on “stuff”. It’s just “stuff”. Experiences last longer.

Life isn’t about possibilities. It’s about doing.

Don’t wait.
So much wasted time…

Get. Your. Oil. Changed.

It’s quite embarrassing, but I don’t drive very much (have been working from home for almost 5 years now) and let time and miles get away from me. I’m currently waiting to hear back, but I’m very likely going to need to get a new engine, so this will be the most expensive mistake that I’ve ever made.

It's really easy to have an alcohol problem without realizing you have an alcohol problem. This is especially true in people with certain personality or mental health conditions. Alcohol cost me a ridiculous amount of money and at least one job and nearly a couple of others. I was drinking to get out of social anxiety and have addiction issues in general, but somehow didn't see how bad I was getting. I would take time off drinking and think I was fine, but I always went back to it. Never start that. Also, never start smoking.

Remember that, in general, consuming almost always costs you something while producing can potentially give you something. This is true in a very broad sense.

If you are a teenager and you currently feel like you have failed at being a man/woman/heterosexual/whatever, then there is a 79.8% chance you are some form of LGBTQ. Stop beating yourself up and start exploring instead. You'll be happy you did.

Triple check your tax forms when you land a new job. I got my dream job but realized after the first tax year that they’d been deducting essentially no taxes so I had a very hefty tax bill that year. 😪

1. You can offer help, but do not take action until the person you are helping has actually asked. This is of course talking about "real help" not helping someone pick up a book they dropped.

2. It takes a modicum of selfishness to live a healthy life.

3. You CANNOT fool yourself, the sooner you work within your reality the better it will be for you and everyone around you

Getting wasted in bars and clubs is not how one finds quality life partners.

Similarly, if no one is into you, that might be because the core of your identity is feeling desperately lonely while getting drunk in bars and clubs.

Don't get married unless you are 10,000% sure. People invariably get sick of each other over time. It can feel like a prison sentence. Real life is not the movies.

"Relationships take work". Yes. Absolutely. But would you buy a car that costs $50k or more to dispose of after it's broken down and unrepairable?

Wear hearing protection.

check where your retirement and savings are invested. buy a low cost index fund (fidelity and vanguard have great ones).

do not invest in any funds that have high fees. (there are plenty of good funds with fees around 0.1%)

I split my savings between:

• total domestic stock index
• total international stock index
• cash/money market/bonds
• a small amount in a sector fund with higher growth potential (e. g. tech) or risky investments

Find someone you can share the good and the bad. Someone who won't judge you for how things turned out. Someone who will just listen and appreciate you being there. Be that person to them as well.

It doesn't have to be a partner. It may or may not be your parents. But find that person. And never let them go. You may not talk for years even. But always remember them.

Investing even relatively small amounts of money monthly or weekly into an indexed mutual fund or similar at a young age should result in substantial growth and returns over 30 years or so.

Think twice before lending money.

some cool stuff also qualifies as either luck, brave or stupid; or a combination of those.

what's brave today maybe an embarassing thing that keeps you up at night later.

Don't get entangled in interpersonal drama among the people you know. If someone comes to you with some petty bullshit about someone else, and you weren't there, don't take their word for it, don't repeat their story.

Don't push too hard to poop. Just try again later or take something to help it out.

Never send an email or text that could get you in trouble later.

Get a dashcam. It's worth your whole car and everything in it.

weight loss is great but as you get older building muscle and strength is just as important - especially if you are female.

If you don't have a dream, do what makes money. Fuck what you enjoy.

Hobbies aren't careers and you don't want to end up 40 having never "found" yourself, suck working in a factory.

Source: long island doesn't have cliffs for me to drive off.

Always out matching money into your 491k.

As someone who thought they couldnt afford it. I could have. Just do it. I regret not doing it sooner so much.

By the time the changes in your health are dramatic enough that you notice the difference, you've already done enough damage to warrant a loooong recovery. This goes double for mental health.

A lot of people will just write off symptoms that don't disrupt their daily routine. "Walk it off," so to speak. But that's when you should have started looking for what lifestyle changes you could make to avoid anything more dire in the future.

I failed out of college the first time I ignored my anxiety and depression. This time, it led to a complete breakdown that I'm still struggling to overcomevthe symptoms of: I spend every day feeling on edge like my safety is threatened, and my gut revolts at every crumb of food. At night I twitch and can't sleep from the stomach pain without a sleeping pill. And it's been better this week than it was this time last month, where I hadn't slept for >48 hours, after a week of waking up every hour nightly, and was in the worst pain I've ever experienced as my body started to digest itself.

It started slowly in spring, with just a panic attack once a week or so, and spikes of anxiety that caused my vision to shake too much to see... But I still perservered without much thought. The doc prescribed me anti-vert meds, said it was just vertigo induced by allergies, sent me on. I forgot about it all summer as I focused on obligations and trips and work.

And now I'm wondering if this is just my life now, if I'll never feel relaxed again. Will the meds and therapy work, or have I done irreversible damage to my brain through inaction? Admittedly a less unpleasant thought than wondering if I'd ever be able to see straight long enough to get work done and put food on the table, or stand up without collapsing from panic and dizziness. At times I've wondered how much more I can take before suicide starts to sound like the better alternative.

I'm gonna keep on fighting and healing, but holy shit I wish I had just started the meds sooner.

Don't get fat. It is so hard to lose weight once you get over 40 years of age because you are fighting a reduced metabolism.

If she says she's on birth control but you haven't seen it, dont believe her. If she pressures you not to use a condom, don't consent.

Don't marry someone before you've known them well for a few years. Don't ignore red flags, such as them telling you that they see other people as pawns or them pressuring you to empty your 401k to put it into their financial/realestate schemes.

If your partner doesn't treat you with kindness and respect right now, then they are never going to, no matter how many times they say they will if you would only just do this or be that - nothing will ever be good enough for that kind of person, period, full stop. And, no, they won't change, no matter how much you do, and no matter how much you love them.

Do learn what "love bombing" is. Then find out if someone is grossly irresponsible with money or hiding a severe alcohol problem before you move in with them.

There are a lot of people in this world who will take advantage of your kindness and naivety, if you let them, so be mindful of how people treat you and those around them before you make commitments to them.

Not everyone is awful.

Edit to add: don't ignore your friends or family telling you that they think your relationship is unhealthy, or that the person is mistreating you or others, or may be taking advantage of you. Even if you don't have much respect for the person telling you this, stop and listen and reflect, because red flags don't stand out to you when you're wearing rosy tinted glasses.

Don't be afraid of therapy, especially if you have anxiety.

When your partner complains they can’t screw other people because you’re away for a week, you might be dating someone you can’t fully trust long-term.

If you’re good at something, even if you don’t enjoy it, it might still make a good career. You don’t have to love what makes you money, just not hate it. If you’re good enough, you end up with a lot more free time for yourself. Doing what you love can also cause you to hate doing it as a hobby eventually. People don’t “love” their jobs. You don’t see them paying to do their job like they do for tennis lessons or sports events. You probably just tolerate your job, and that’s ok. Your life isn’t ruined.

Stay away from even legal drugs if you realize they affect you differently from the norm / other people. You might end up spending a couple nights in a hospital.

Alcohol is not really good for your body or mind.

Don’t just go for a shallow understanding of concepts. Learn and reason through them completely in your own way and you’ll never forget them. You’ll also be better prepared to use and extend them.

A solid sleep schedule is good for building a routine. A crazy sleep schedule can make you more creative. Choose a balance.

Know how food impacts you. You maybe eating something that drains you for decades without even realizing it. Introduce things one by one and see how you feel and think.

What people think about you does matter to an extent. It’s good to have confidence in yourself, but you can also be overconfident. It’s also ok to be a little judgmental at times about things that are important to you. You don’t have to be a dick about it though.

Try to take a couple of minutes to look up at the sky every day. Whether it's pretty clouds or a cool plane or the moon and the stars. Seems too many people end up missing what's right over their heads

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Pick something to get good at, then really work to get really good at it. The younger the better. But be focused. Ideally something you can make money with.

If you're being hailed as a hero in the US and you aren't a politician....

Run. Do not walk away, run. Society is absolving itself of caring for you after the inevitable sacrifice of your health and/or sanity.

Be true to yourself and don't be afraid to say how you feel. That's what it means to be human; no one gets extra points for hiding it.

Warning: This is not liscense to reject objective reality.

Edit: would like to add that when I say objective reality I mean a shared version of history/current events; appreciation for science and the scientific theory; appreciation for the mysterious and unknown; and appreciation for basic human rights.

Don't grow up super religious and become a conservative operative on Capitol Hill for 7 years. Just trust me, it's not as good as it sounds.

You can grow and change and be better.
Accept that you did wrong, recognize what you did and why, think about what you've learned, tell yourself how you're going to do better next time.
Grow. Change. Aspire to be better.

Don’t date someone through high school into college. You are young, you don’t know yourself, and you will change a lot. Also, there’s thousands of new people to meet in college and, if you’re already taken, you won’t know where a conversation after class could take you. Be free and experience life.

Sleeping with someone you love, when they don't love you, is a heartwrenching experience as soon as one of you gets off. Doubly so if they're cheating on someone.

You can use money from your 401k (stipulations vary) for a down payment on a first home, without the tax penalty (in America at least)

Not everything what shine is gold..

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

If you have the chance to get laid SAFELY as a young adult, DO IT. You miss your chance and you may end up virgin and lonely forever, regretting not doing it and being terrified of being rejected or mocked now.

Never call Chuck Norris, Cuck Norris!