We have moments in our life that we would rather hide in the deepest and darkest corner of our closets. Whether it was about changing your name to your favorite Autobot or getting the worst tattoo ever, we all have those memories. You probably even fought tooth and nail just to send across your point that whatever you're going through is not just a phase—it's your lifestyle.
However, a few years later and it turns out that you're sorely mistaken. It's actually just a phase. You might be thinking, “Phew! Thank heavens that didn't catch on!” Here are a bunch of people sharing their most regrettable phases in life and the choices they've made alongside it.
When I was a teenager, I was waiting for my mother to pick me up and was wearing one of those terrible sports wristwatches. It was making me itch, so I took it off for a second, but then she arrived. Then, because I struggled to get it back on my wrist, I looped it around the chain I had around my neck in a rush to get out the door. My mom asked me about it in the car. I told her this was my new style and I planned to wear it like that every day. She rolled her eyes.
I wore that watch on a chain around my neck every single day for three years or so. There are even professional family photos where I'm wearing it because I refused to take it off. One day, the chain broke, and I lost the watch. I was in high school anyway, and it was a major lady repellent, so phase over. daevgriin
My cat ear phase. I wore cat ears every single day. Everywhere.
I had like 20 pairs of them. Now everyone thinks I'm a furry. thesoftenedbutter
I was VERY into The Transformers when I was a lad in the 1980s. One day, I decided to change my name to the name of my favorite Autobot. My name was lame, and I wanted an awesome Transformer name. And I was VERY insistent that my parents only call me by my new name.
Calling me by my "old" name would cause a big fat tantrum on my part. So for the better part of a week, my poor parents had to call me Wheeljack. AxelShoes
I went to a car show once as a teen, and the only newer car there was some chick's PT cruiser. It was hot glittery pink, and at the time, I was obsessed. I insisted that I would have a hot pink car one day, with pink seats, pink dash, pink carpets, etc.
I was pretty heavily goth at the time, so my parents just rolled their eyes. vampiratemirajah
When I was sixteen, I wanted to gauge my ears so bad, but my mom talked me out of it. She said that I would absolutely regret it.
Twelve years later, thank God she stopped me. MoseShrute_DowChem
My boyfriend when I was sixteen that I swore to God was my soulmate. I don't even remember his name now.
Sorry, mum. LaceOfGrace
Wanted a Killer Whale after watching Free Willy. Even told my mom all the ways we could redesign the backyard into a giant swimming enclosure for him. I lived in small town Tennessee by the way.
Also, having one as a pet would defeat the whole purpose of the movie I think. affect_labile
I thought I was asexual cause I'd never liked anyone before and so I told my mom I wanted to grow up and live alone and never find love because people only made you feel worse once they left.
Evidently, it's worth it and I'm not asexual TheBoos456
Ugh, calling myself an empath. I grew up being that person everyone leans on and uses for free therapy because I was sensitive and bad at setting boundaries. Plus, people think the outcasts won't judge you. So, when I heard of this mystical idea, some people could pluck other people's emotions out of the air (and totally not make guesses based on body language, setting, etc.) I knew for sure that was me.
Now I look back on that whole friend group where we were all empaths, and I cringe so hard. We talked about stuff like astral projecting and gaining clairvoyance and metaphysically hurting each other with stupid drama. We weren't even kids; we were a bunch of adults pretending magic existed. Paropolikala
I got a tattoo when I was 21 (a fairly big one) because I wanted to show my parents I was an adult and could do what I wanted with my body! I absolutely loathe it now and am looking to get it removed.
I had a posh phase once. I spoke in a terrible British accent, put my pinky out while drinking tea said pardon a lot.
My brother told me to stop, so I did. 123Spaghetti321
My friend and I decided we were going to open a bar in Jamaica with exotic snakes in glass cages in the walls at each booth. We convinced ourselves it would be amazing for at least two years in college. It was going to be called Fredro's. My entire family made fun of me for it.
Once we got out of college, we realized it was not feasible and joined the office grind. We're also two white guys with no ties to Jamaica. J_for_Jules
I was obsessed with "The Craft" in junior high and was convinced that I was a witch. I basically just drew pentagrams all over my school work and wore many rings on my fingers.
That's it. helloasianglow
When I was about 14, and Eminem was starting to blow up, I bought myself a keyboard with a synthesizer. It cost like $200, which was all the money I had saved up. It finally came (this was way before Amazon Prime and such), and I tried rapping.
My sister told me, "you're effing horrible," and I gave up right then and there. JesusDiedForOurChins
I wore a top hat with an anime pin on it for around a year. I met one of my current best friends while wearing it.
I don't know how he could bear to speak to me after that. lauren_eats_games
Acting like a thug. I was twelve years old from a white middle-class family but acting like a career criminal, born in the streets, who had done a nickel of a hard time in the clink, at the mall on a Friday night giving you the crazy eye with my backward hat and baggy pants. If someone did actually "try" me, we would usually just bump chests and say "do something then" "go ahead then," or "no you do something homie." I was even walking in circles with my hands by my side because I'm more concerned about looking gangster than I am about defending myself. 9/10 times nothing would happen, but I would definitely chalk it up as a win for my crew anyway.
Also, I had my nickname embroidered on my fitted hat from lids "Lil E." But because of the calligraphy style font and bad spacing, it appeared to read "Lile" or "Lily," as most would pronounce it, and that sucked. I spent like a month's allowance on that stupid hat never to be worn again, but also never forgotten by my friends. Sincerely yours, Lily Oops_dookiesneeze
There was a time in my younger days when I was obsessed with death. I wanted to be a hitman. I had convinced myself that I was going to be an assassin.
That lasted a few months. awesomemofo75
There was a time when I believed that I wanted to enter seminary and study for the priesthood. My mom said, "It's a passing fancy. You lead an intensely secular life and are only flirting with the idea because you enjoy time spent at church playing your organ as a layperson." She was right, but I wouldn't admit it at the moment.
By my junior year in high school, the notion had passed. Back2Bach
When I was sixteen, I kept my hair dyed blue and kept myself fairly busy earning money to keep buying the hair dye so it would stay that way. Then one summer, one of our cats, a gray and white one, had to have a leg amputated after being bitten by a snake, and I noticed that the skin beneath the fur was the same color, in the same pattern, as her coat had been. And it was just enough to pass idiot teenage muster. So, I shaved my head with the intention of getting my entire scalp tattooed blue, thinking that when my hair grew back in, it would be forever blue. I even found a tattoo guy willing to do the job, but only if an experimental square inch worked. I'm still blonde, but I have a tattoo on my scalp that's just a blue square.
My mother was too dumbfounded to say anything. And my stepdad just walked out onto the back porch to stare into the yard for a while. It was never brought up again once it was clear the experiment didn't work. I never dyed my hair again after that, either. PowerSkunk92
Oh God, acting. After years of theater, starting in elementary through college, I thought that was it. I loved being on stage.
My Korean mom would try and bribe me with fast food and other contraband instead of heading out to classes and auditions. Now I work in IT but still take classes here and there. GoldenBea
Shopkins. Second grade me thought they were GOLD and that I would love them forever. I had hundreds and held competitions with my friends and family over them. I even almost choked and died because of Shopkins.
Years later, I realize that it was foreshadowing how obsessed I get with things I love. Because after Shopkins came Harry Potter, Undertale, Bendy and the Ink Machine, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Star Vs., Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Zelda, and currently My Hero Academia. I have learned to tone it down now by keeping myself spread across many things (I'm still really into most of the listed things), but Shopkins is one I will always regret. AmethystTheAnimator
I went through a weird phase as a child where I almost exclusively watched The Weather Channel for a couple of years. This was back in the early 2000s, when there was no entertainment programming, just repeating news segments and "Local on the 8s," the latter of which I got really excited for. I was also obsessed with watching this stupid slideshow on the local access channel and memorizing the lunch menus for every school in the district. My mom would get angry at me for doing this. She even took me to see a child psychiatrist, who decided there was nothing wrong with me—I was just strange. But really, I was absolutely obsessed with PowerPoint.
I made all sorts of presentations in my free time, and I was convinced I would become a professional PowerPoint maker, which no one at the time told me wasn't a thing. It turned out to be a phase because being forced to use PowerPoint today makes me groan. I'd rather spend hours editing a video or writing an essay, especially if that PowerPoint presentation requires an accompanying speech. I find this phase to be regrettable because I missed many great children's shows of the time, like Lizzie McGuire and As Told By Ginger. I just wanted to watch the most mundane, unmemorable things on TV. thrashette
My anime phase. I don't really watch a lot of anime now, but I wouldn't mind watching it from time to time. When I was 13 or 14, and went through a whole phase of watching this one show and became dark because this character was only into dark things and wore the color black all the time.
I also remember thinking how super hot he was. Now I don't ever want to remember this time at all. Gracie_Morea
I used to wear clip-on ties over t-shirts. I really wanted to start a trend, and I thought I was so cool and quirky. I can't believe that phase of my life was real.
LOL! Sbsxgorilla
Scene fashion. I back-combed my hair to hell and back and got quite a few facial piercings I still have scars for. LOL The worst part was the actual clothes.
I still cringe thinking about when I wore these neon blue leopard print leggings with a pink tutu skirt. And all the tacky, cheap beaded jewelry. My mom told me not to leave the house like that, and I told her she didn't "get it." wwickered
My gymnastics. Then, I slipped up and paralyzed myself. I had to learn to walk again, which took three years. Interestingly, my parents discouraged me from "wasting time" on gymnastics before the accident.
After the accident and my recovery, they encouraged me to take it up again, but I can't. The accident and the horror surrounding it still gives me nightmares some nights. _Domino_Presley_
I used to be really into video games. I lived and breathed 'World of Warcraft.' I was even planning a Super Mario themed sleeve tattoo for when I was eighteen. Back then, I'm a complete introvert at school with no actual friends and would spend my days hanging out on Vent.
This lasted from when I was a kid until college at 19. natvern
I used to be really into trains. It was shamefully and sadly a very expensive phase that lasted for about eight years. Now I'm over it, but I'm stuck with model trains that cost $50-2,000 a piece.
The sadder part is that I can't sell them. Ouch. PreheatedHail19
I have a real whopper. I loved anime as a teenager. This was in the 90s, so it wasn't that mainstream yet. Because I had no interest in anything else, I took a year of Japanese. Then because I STILL had no other ambition or interest, I signed up in the military to go to Japan. For eight years. I got out, went to college, and STILL didn't know what I wanted to do; I studied Japanese. By this time, the interest in anime had worn off, but learning culture and history were cool.
So, I went to college to learn Japanese as a major. I spent six years, a ton of core classes, and not a single interest in any other thing. I was "done" with the Japanese language at that point, but because near the end, my class literally couldn't be run without me, I stayed. I stayed because I felt like it would be a waste if I changed it. Like everything I had done up to that point was a lie. Here I am with a degree in Japanese Language/History and Culture, and I'm not at all interested in it anymore. I'm looking for a real job since I got out of college, but I work for a temp company for a Japanese air conditioning company. -Firestar-
Being a mall goth was my "it's just who I am, mom!" I am 34 and no longer a mall goth. But I do still look back fondly at all the stupid clothes I used to wear.
It was a lot of fun. H0lyThr0awayBatman