Throughout life people are faced with millions of decisions. Every decision you make has an immediate affect on the rest of your life. Everyone makes bad decisions, but you can’t regret them. Instead of looking at bad decisions as mistakes, you should look at them as learning lessons. Once you make a bad decision, you can learn from it and make better decisions in the future.
When I was a young, naïve, high school freshman I began dating my first boyfriend. He was a high school drop out, with no direction in life and I was completely infatuated with him. Not only was he a bad influence on my easily influenced mind, he was also controlling, manipulative and abusive. All aspects of my life began to change due to his influence. My grades significantly dropped, I lost contact with my friends, my relationship with my parents weakened, and I changed who I was. However, I was so wrapped up in him that I couldn’t see my life spiraling downward.
My parents, friends, and teachers all tried to tell me what I couldn’t see. I was blinded by love and he could do no wrong in my eyes. It’s something that’s so hard to see when you’re in the situation, but once you remove yourself from it, it becomes so clear. After two years of us dating my parents finally had enough of him ruining my life, and forced me to break up with him. There was only one problem; his controlling personality would not allow me to end it with him. He began to go insane. He started following me everywhere and calling me non-stop, leaving threatening messages. When this didn’t work he started calling all of my friends and harassing them.
My family and I were left with no other choice then to get a restraining order against him. I was completely traumatized. I had to sit across a courtroom from someone who I thought I was in love with for the past two years. For the next month I did not leave my room, I sat in bed, cried and thought my life was over. Then I began to look back, and I started thinking about all the things people who cared about me had been trying to tell me all along. It began to click, he was extremely controlling and a really bad decision in my life.
Although I recognized dating him as a bad decision it was not something I regretted. Most people probably think I wish that I never dated him and didn’t have to go through all that heartbreak and devastation at such a young age. However, I look back at this bad decision not as a regret, but a learning experience. Now I know all the warning signs of a controlling relationship and can get out of it before it turns into a nightmare again. I would not be who I am today if it wasn’t for this experience. Live life with no regrets, just lessons learned