Adults: Why Do We Still Do Things We Know We'll Regret?

Ever since we were little we have always been tempted to do things we know we shouldn’t, a classic example is not going to bed at bedtime even though we knew we would get in trouble with our parents. As we get older, we tend to grow out of bad habits and mould into more mature, responsible people, the idea is we finish education, start a career, get married, start a family, and then retire in a nice little bungalow somewhere- that’s what’s ‘traditional’ anyway. But in reality, it seems that even as adults, we still end up doing things we know we shouldn’t do or we avoid things that we know shouldn’t be avoided.

Even as grown ups, we still seem to travel back in time and purposely chose to do what might not be the best thing. One example being procrastination. As a university student I have many deadlines and assignments that need to be done instead in order to get my degree, which was the main point of me actually going to university in the first place.  A lot of uni students are good at writing essays, especially writing them last minute, but we are also very good at procrastinating! Yes, I always hit deadlines and manage my time well, but that still doesn’t mean that I have moments where I should be writing an important essay, but instead I’ll binge watch my latest obsession on Netflix all day (it’s Grey’s Anatomy ATM, in case you’re wondering).

Like now, I’ve just spent the past two hours watching a horror film, in the middle of the night, on my own.  I know for a fact I should not have done this because now I’ll spend the rest of the night being paranoid about every little noise I hear, I knew this before watching the movie, yet I still voluntarily chose to press play when I knew full well that I would probably regret it later (shock, I can hear noises outside and instantly regret watching something scary just before I go to sleep- smart move Becca, very smart!).  

I suppose you could say as long as these decisions don’t actually hurt anyone, it’s fine to do things we know we’ll regret, a recent example I encountered happened just a few weeks ago. My best friend had spent the past couple of months watching How I Met Your Mother, after hearing me bang on about how incredible it is I think she eventually caved in just to shut me up, she also became completely obsessed with it (if you’ve seen the show , you’ll understand why, it’s the best thing in the world). She enjoyed the show and was so excited to see how it would end, so what did she do? She Googled what happens and ruined the ending- she was still on season one at the time! She knew that once she hit the search button the element of surprise would be ruined, but she did it anyway! It's almost as if we want to challenge ourselves to see if we can correct the mistakes we may make.

It’s one thing doing something on impulse because ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ but sometimes, we all do things even though we know from the get go that it’s not the smart thing to do and we will probably end up regretting it later. Example we (I) will start of the night drinking a bottle of wine at pre-drinks, followed by copious amounts of tequila shots at the club later on, only to be greeted with the worlds biggest hangover accompanied by the feeling of shame and regret the second you wake up the next morning. It’s a stupid idea, but we (I) still do it! But why? Why do we do things we know aren’t wise, but do them anyway? Is it that ‘why not?’ instinct we have as humans, or is it just plain stupidity and poor judgement?

 We know we should have an early night to be ready and refreshed for that early lecture or work the next morning, but instead we spend the night drinking and partying in bars and clubs (or spend hours watching Netflix- let’s be honest with ourselves). Again, we know this is a stupid move, but we do it anyway. It’s almost like self-punishment, and some of the time we are fully aware of this- we just choose not to care. And sometimes we just choose to avoid the responsible thing altogether and find ways around 'the right thing to do'. If we get ill instead of booking an appointment with the doctor, someone who has studied medicine for years and can give you a correct diagnosis and treatment, we research what is wrong with us online. In reality we aren't really that ill and sometimes all need is some paracetamol and a nap, but we research what is wrong with us to self-diagnose and the websites tell us we’re dying!

Although, if we think about it, sometimes we have to make decisions that in some ways might not be the best. Before starting university I knew that I would spend three years of my life stressing and working myself so hard to the point of feeling sick in order to get a degree. I also knew that I would be poor and in debt, but I still went! True, this decision was made in order to give myself a better, more secure and happier future, but I knew there were going to be some not so good elements that couldn’t be avoided. And before I moved to America, I knew that I’d be leaving my life behind for six months and I would be put in a new, unfamiliar, scary scenario where I would be away from family and most of my friends. I knew the trip would be expensive and there was a chance that I might not settle in, but I decided to go anyway, and I’m so glad I did. So from this point of view, sometimes taking risks and taking the ‘I’ll worry about the bad things if and when they come up’ approach can work out for the best!

Truth is, we know we bring it on ourselves, we know that there are things we should do and things we should avoid but we go the opposite path anyway. But at the end of the day, we all make mistakes anyway, so maybe it’s better to make the mistakes you can actually control and while we may suffer from our choices in the long run…. who cares? We can worry about that later!