"Don't dwell on the past," your friends and family tell you after you've divorced.
But the truth is, whether you're newly separated or decades divorced, ruminating on what you could have done differently in your marriage is something we all experience.
On Wednesday, our readers shared with us their biggest marriage regrets. From going into the marriage with misguided ideas about love, to not getting out of the marriage sooner than they did, scroll down to see what they had to say, then tell us what you would have done differently in your last relationship in the comments.
1. "I regret settling for less than what I deserved, always justifying his unacceptable behavior, and forgiving too many inexcusable things for the sake of our marriage."
2. "Trying to make the marriage work when I knew deep down we didn't stand a chance."
3. "Becoming complacent. I now know that marriage is like chess: You always have to have your head in the game. Always."
4. "My big mistake was picking someone I thought I could 'save.' Eventually, I realized we were both emotionally unavailable."
5. "Assuming I could love her enough to erase her past."
6. "Staying and fighting for his love when he pushed me away."
7. "I regret marrying someone I knew I wasn't in love with."
8. "My biggest regret is not being able to make it last 'till death did us part.'"
9. "Thinking an open marriage was a reasonable idea is what I regret most."
10. "I regret trying to make someone else happy and staying for far too long. I only ended up shortchanging myself."
11. "I never should have married someone with a history of walking out."
12. "Not having separate bank accounts."
13. "Being in such a rush to get married. I never took the time to really get to know him before we wed."
14. "My biggest regret is that I didn't try harder to work things out."
15. "I regret the whole thing: getting married and staying married. In the end, I wasted too much of my life on him."
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