Things I Will Never Do Twice
I felt it in my gut.
“This isn’t a good idea” and yet, I did it anyway. I’ve learned my lessons and paid a price (sometimes, a literal $$ price).
NEVER AGAIN WILL I Live with someone who is in a COMPLETELY different life stage
I agreed to share an apartment with a woman who was 20 years older than me because the available bedroom was furnished, she lived cleanly, and I was starting a new job in a week. However, we didn’t get along.
She liked the apartment very quiet, did not like company over, and often pulled the “since I’m older than you” justification for her dominant behavior. Now, I totally understand why some Craigslist ads emphasize “Young professionals only.”NEVER AGAIN WILL I Wing A speech in a public speaking competition
It was junior year of university. I was President of Rutgers Toastmasters and I had several 1st place public speaking trophies under my belt. I entered a competition Rutgers held on campus and contestants were assigned a speech prompt. I formed an idea on what I’d speak towards, took down some notes and never rehearsed it because I wagered that my delivery could carry my speech home. Every other contestant would stand behind the podium. But me? I’m going to abandon it and bring my body to the front of the room, connecting with my audience.
I let it my past winning streak and confidence all get to my head that I didn’t prepare my speech structure. Candidly, I thought there was not a student on campus that was better than me (talk about arrogance). On the day of the competition, I got up when they called my name, opened strong and then— I forgot my next point. I lost my place, I didn’t know what to say next.
My mind went blank and I couldn’t remember my talk track midway through. I stumbled, like the ground fell beneath my feet and I felt more eyes on me that I ever have. I was forced to retreat to the podium to read from my notes for the rest of my speech. I was humiliated.NEVER AGAIN WILL I Put down a cash deposit FOR RENT with no receipt (or any paper trail)
I was desperate to make the move into Manhattan and I found 1BR in Chelsea owned by a landlord who barely spoke English. In the upcoming days to my move-in date, things fell through. The room would be occupied by someone else who she needed to prioritize.
I wanted my downpayment reimbursed and after many hours of back-and-forth, I finally got my envelope of cash and noticed she kept $500 to herself.
Then, she ghosted me completely and deleted her KakaoTalk account.NEVER AGAIN WILL I Stay in a serious relationship with someone whose parents don’t like me
An ex-boyfriend’s mom was not keen on us dating and his dad showed zero interest in getting to know me. However, I stayed with him for many more months under the impression that his love and attraction towards me would influence their acceptance of me… eventually.
That never happened. In fact, it was the opposite. His parents had an unwavering influence on him. It was stressful and we broke up for other reasons but this was a big red flag.
This relationship taught me how important it is to get along with each others’ families.NEVER AGAIN WILL I Give notice that I’m leaving my JOB over the phone
I was so intimidated by a former boss that I didn’t have the courage to announce my resignation in person so I called him and told him over the phone. As soon as we hung up, I instantly regretted doing it that way.
My pent-up frustration and eagerness to move on overwhelmed my patience to do it properly, face to face.NEVER AGAIN WILL I ACCEPT A JOB WITHOUT SPEAKING TO A REAL HUMAN BEING
I feel embarrassed to even write about this right now. Okay so I had a light fall semester in my senior year and decided to seek out a part-time job to earn some cash. I found a posting on Craigslist for a remote position that would pay like $150/hour or something to be this executive assistant to a traveling artist. It all sounded too good to be true. Job responsibilities were too simple for such a high hourly pay.
It’s still painful to think back to how stupid I was when everything was too good to be true. In short— it just wound up being a huge scam and the con-artist got access to my checking account, hacked it, and took enough money to drop me into the negative.
I was truly a broke college kid before graduating.
I can talk about smart hacks and things I’ve proud of but I’ve also done dumb things. I’ve made stupid choices in life and these are just a few.
Reflecting on them, I can confidently tell you that I knew some might be terrible, meaning I’ve had wishful thinking that my case would be different.
I acted purely on emotion, reacted thoughtlessly, and overrode my gut instinct many times.
I mean, I might as well have titled this “The Times I Should Have Listened to My Gut Instinct” or “Things I’ve Immediately or Soon Regretted After Doing Them”
Lessons have been learned I wanted to share some with you.
