Everything happens for a reason, right?
Even the worst things that happen to us make us the person we are today, and while it may suck at the time, ultimately it can lead to growth and happiness.
Here are some of Reddit's best mistakes.
Redditor S_aturn asked:
"What was the 'best mistake' you have ever made?"
Smooth move.
"Watching this guy painting a beach scene in a touristy area of my city."
'Nobody else was watching, I was just zoning out, it was relaxing."
"This girl walks up and I didn't even notice, and she goes 'wow that's beautiful'."
"Just a joke as reflex but I shot back 'you're beautiful'."
"I immediately realized what I'd done and I turned to this gorgeous girl and she was blushing."
"I think we were both speechless for a second."
"We flirted for a couple minutes but I was far too flustered from my f up to ask her out."
"Which makes no sense in hindsight but it was a great mistake."- TheHumanRavioli
Good Pupper.
"Getting my dog."
"I was a dumbass 19 year old who couldn't afford a dog nor did I get the type of dog for my lifestyle."
"I had to keep being better for her."
"We had a rocky journey, but now she's a spoiled ass boxer that goes to daycare and plays every day."- cherrywinetime
GiphyUm....why is that a problem?
"Helping my last girlfriend's brother make some money by paying him to watch my cat."
"She flipped out and ended up breaking up with me over it."
"Turns out, my relationship was pretty toxic and I couldn't see it because I was so in love."
"Still recovering from the toxicity, but I can see it as a positive now and I'm really looking forward to 2020 because of it."- NewToThis-27
Buttf*ck nowhere is the best.
"I moved to buttf*ck nowhere to start a job."
"My mom kept saying it's a dead end, and that I really need to switch jobs every 3 years if I want to progress."
"It was a 5 hour drive through twisty winding roads to a place where nothing but sheep, cows, and turnips grow in a 100 mile radius."
"It was pretty dire, and I could only think that I was making the biggest mistake of my life."
"Well, turns out people in buttf*ck nowhere pay quite well to make sure you stay in buttf*ck nowhere."
"I've been getting a 5% bonus every year, around 2% pay increase every year to account for inflation, and an extra 5% pay rise every year for performance."
"Property prices are very cheap in buttf*ck nowhere."
"I met the love of my life in buttf*ck nowhere. It's quiet, peaceful, and crime is almost nonexistent."- GrammatonYHWH
Awwww.
"Deciding to take a paid internship."
"It was a total scam."
"I had to door knock on houses and then convince them to hire me to paint that house."
"My wife was working with the same company and we met at a Christmas party."- stuartstustewart
GiphyGetting Banned Can Be The Greatest Blessing.
"I was sent to work in another office that didn't have their sh*t together."
"Apparently I made some mistakes and customers got pissed off and it got back to my boss."
"Fast forward 6 months and that office is still a sh*t-show, but I never had to go back because I'd been 'banned'."
" It was great."- Cyberhwk
Yum!
"When making a batch of oatmeal-raisin cookies, I mistakenly used "Craisins" instead of raisins."
"The cranberry flavor and texture turned out to be a big hit with everyone that tried the cookies."- Back2Bach
We love a good flight mishap.
"When booking airline flights on-line was newish, I booked a flight from New York to Detroit and a rental car at the airport."
"I meant to fly into Detroit Metropolitan Airport but booked to Detroit City Airport by mistake."
"The plane landed and they rolled up some stairs to the plane almost immediately."
"I walked fifty feet to the terminal building; waited a few minutes for my bag; walked thirty feet to the car rental counter; got my key; walked another fifty feet across the road to the car lot; got into the rental car and drove away."
"Ten minutes later I was passing Detroit Metro on I-94."
"Had I flown into the larger airport, I would have still been waiting for the plane to pull up to the gate and for the extendo-thing to be hooked up."- Dogs_Akimbo
GiphyAnother Cute One.
"This girl (A) was introducing me to her friend (B) at a restaurant."
"I thought nothing of it at the time, but later she (A) asked me what I thought of her friend(B) and my response was 'She's cool, I like her' as in 'she's a cool person, I like her as a potential friend'."
"Shortly after this conversation, she(A) went to her friend(B) and told her I liked her and wanted to date."
"I didn't have the heart to tell her (B) otherwise."
"So long story short, we have been married for 5 strong years"- TheRealSlimCoder
Cats change lives.
"I thought this said 'biggest mistake' and I was so pumped cause I had a great one."
"But nope."
"Thought really long and hard about this and had nothing until I read that one comment about them having a dog."
"So I'll say this."
"My roommate moved out and ditched her cat with me, said she'd try putting her up for adoption and never did."
"And I couldn't handle doing it myself so I kept her."
"So here we are, never was supposed to have a cat, never thought I ever could have a cat, and now this cat is quite possibly the only thing keeping me alive."
"Where would I be without her?"- Lyssinfinite
Seeing People For Who They Truly Are
"I yelled at my friend's girlfriend and that made me realize that neither of them were my friends in the first place."- FueledUp
Yelling Steve Carell GIFGiphyA Much Needed Laugh
"I was texting a friend while playing skyrim."
"I wasn't looking down."
"I meant to say that I was fighting a dragon."
"Instead, I somehow wrote 'I'm queefing a dragon' instead."- Zapashark
When Peer Pressure Pays Off!
"Allowing my friends to pressure me into having a 'relationship' with my current SO."
"They did it as a 'joke,' and after I was hooked, they were planning on blackmailing him to dump me so I'd be heartbroken and rely on them for everything."
"Needless to say, I am no longer friends with them, and my wonderful boyfriend and I have been together for 8.5 years, at the end of February."- SweetSugarGirl1296
Wrong Place At The Right Time
"I clicked the wrong orientation date for college and ended up meeting my future girlfriend."
We've been dating ever since."- BioJoltz
lisa simpson school GIFGiphyWake Up Call
"F*cking up my degree."
"I coasted through my undergraduate degree."
"I did the bare minimum to pass exams and pulled all-nighters whenever I had an essay due."
"I was that guy in your class who sends a Facebook message at 8pm the night before a deadline asking how other people were getting on so that I could pretend that everyone else had left things as last minute as I had."
"I spent far too much time playing games, hanging out in the bar and having fun."
"I bought into the student lifestyle big time."
"Then came graduation and I realized just how much I had messed up."
"I graduated with a less-than-ideal classification."
"My family said they were disappointed for me, but not in me, but I knew I had let them down and more importantly had let myself down."
"I worked for a year in a dead end job."
"I had a part time gig while I was at uni, so I went full time and stored away cash."
"The next year I applied to a lot of masters programs in the hope that one would accept me with my dismal academic transcript."
"One did."
"I went back to uni and worked my a** off."
"I basically lived in the library."
"When I graduated this time, I graduated at the top of my class."
"Off the back of that, I've managed to get a PhD position at a pretty good university in an excellent research project."
"I've now had the opportunity to share platforms with nationally recognized experts and research in an exciting and dynamic field."
"I wouldn't be where I am today if I had worked as hard as I should have in my undergraduate."
"If I'd graduated with a "good" degree, I'd have gotten a job somewhere and never looked twice at academia."
"It's funny, when I graduated with my degree, I felt like the university was telling me that I'd never succeed in academics or research."
"I guess I figured that I would show them that they were wrong."
"That, and I couldn't bear having my family be disappointed in me or my achievements."- SvalbardBear
Happy Graduation GIF by FIUGiphySomeone Didn't Proof Read!
"I was trading in a Jetta for a new Audi (circa 1998)."
" I am horrible at math, so when looking at the contract I assumed the numbers were right and I was getting the payment I wanted, so I signed away."
"When I got my beautiful new Audi home, my brother (a numbers guy), said, what's the monthly payment on this!"
"Irritated, at how low the payment was for this car, he said angrily, 'well how much did you put down?'"
"I told him."
"He said, 'impossible, let me see the contract'."
"He looked and immediately noticed their mistake."
"There was apparently a typo, and they gave me $19k for the Jetta instead of $9k!"
"They realized their mistake a few weeks later...oh well, they signed the contract!'
"Lucky for me my BF at the time was a prosecutor lol."- ChrissyT16
Sometimes mistakes offer us the greatest opportunity to learn!
Do you have similar experiences to share? Let us know in the comments below.