Women Admit Their Top Regrets: What Can We Learn?

Je ne regrette rien! Oh if only.

Actually je regrette a lot of things. That meeting with my boss the day after the Christmas party when I thought I was just hungover but actually I was still really drunk? Kinda wish that hadn't happened. Sitting through Lake Placid? To the end? That's two hours of my life I'm not getting back.

Yeah we've all got regrets, thanks for reminding us Diet Coke.

Its survey has asked women (what are men's regrets, huh? I want to know. Coke Zero get on it) what their biggest life regrets are and frankly, those big honking life errors where you want the ground to swallow you up immediately just don't feature.

If anything the list just proves that women feel guilty about everything - and we shouldn't.

The top regret?

Not trying hard enough at school.

Well there's not a lot we can do about that is there? There's no way we're going to be able to change the attitudes of all the schoolgirls currently more interested in perfecting their liquid eyeliner and gobbling up the latest Twilight [Er, insert appropriate 2015 title here] novel than doing their geography coursework.

Not trying at school is just a right of passage, ladies, let's stop being ourselves up for our teenage lack of drive. Blame the hormones and move on.

Next up?

Not losing weight on a diet.

Yeah, that's annoying isn't it? But the reason most of us fail to lose weight when we're on a diet is because we fail to actually diet. We SAY we're dieting but actually we're raiding the fridge at midnight and eating all the toast.

Happily if this is your biggest regret you're in luck, there's something you can do about it. Change your eating habits for good, do it properly, lose weight and feel good about yourself. Knock this regret out of the park once and for all.

Choosing the wrong career path comes in at three, which is a rather sensible regret, well done ladies. And of course, to turn this frown upside down we need to have a think about what job we're doing and work out how we could change it to something we'd find more rewarding, would earn us more money or whatever else our current regrets are centred round.

Next up is another Big Grown Up regret - not getting on the property ladder.

Now come on, ladies, have you not noticed what the financial climate's been like for the past few years? Give yourselves a well earned break. Experiences not things will make you happy. This applies to houses. Or lack of houses.

Regrets five to 17 run like this:

5. Spending a night with someone I shouldn’t
6. Not being spontaneous enough
7. Not being a good enough friend
8. Not being a better daughter
9. Not being impulsive enough
10. Not travelling before starting a family
11. Not having children
12. Not being a better mum
13. Texting someone I shouldn’t after a night out
14. Not having my dream wedding
15. Having an affair
16. Getting married / settling down
17. Focussing too much on my career

And to be honest they're all a bit contradictory - we regret not being spontaneous but we also regret that spontaneous text we sent after a night out. We regret settling down but also NOT having children and we seem to feel bad about everything, whether it's our relationship with our mums or whether we're a 'good enough' friend. It's all a bit of a mindf***.

And yet another reminder that in this life women can NEVER WIN. Even against ourselves.

So here's what I've taken from this:

Be nice to your mum, be nice to your kids, be nice to your friends (who will look after your phone when you're in danger of sending a text you might regret) and travel wheverever and whenever you can.

But mostly, regrette rien.

(And have a totally cool wedding.)

[Can You Have A Feminist Wedding? YES! Go For It]
[Parents' Five Biggest Regrets From Their Child's Early Years]