“1/10 Would Not Recommend It”: 30 People That Followed Their Dreams Then Regretted It Share Their Stories

To learn more about how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user Buzzkill007, who posed the question, “Have you ever dreamed of doing something your whole life only to find out, once you did it, that you hated it? What was it?” And lucky for us, he was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda. “I've been doing a lot of processing about my life lately - where I've been, how I got here, that sort of thing,” the OP shared. “Started thinking about what I used to dream about becoming or doing when I was a kid, and how my experience pursuing a dream didn't quite go as well as I had imagined.”

We were also curious if Buzzkill007 had ever been disappointed by something he had romanticized doing. “I was pretty highly imaginative and creative growing up, and had always wanted to pursue something in an artistic field. I ended up in graphic design,” he told Bored Panda. “There are a lot of positives in that field, and I did have some good experiences with it. I stayed with it for 14 years. But it ended with me having a mental breakdown. I can't blame the breakdown solely on the industry - there were several factors outside of work happening at the time - but the stresses of having to be creative on demand (and other things inherent to the industry) certainly contributed. When the dust had settled, I had not only lost my job, but I had pretty much burned out on wanting to be creative in any capacity. I've slowly started getting that desire back, but I doubt I'll ever want to make a career of it.”

The OP also shared his thoughts on the replies his post received. “I was honestly surprised at the number of people who responded, as well as the breadth of experiences out there,” he said. “It helps to know that this sort of thing isn't just me. I was also interested to see the number of creatives out there who shared similar experiences.” 

And to all the pandas out there who have experienced something similar, Buzzkill007 reminded us that we’re not alone. “I think it's human nature to dream about what's possible,” he told Bored Panda. “Humanity has achieved some great (and some terrible) things because we have imagination. Sure, some of our dreams and expectations can be naïve and unrealistic. But maybe that's just part of learning and growing. I do think that (at least in my case) the best teacher is experience, but there is a lot of value in spending time in the classroom and studying your chosen subject of interest.”

We hope you never give up on your dreams, pandas, but if you reach a point where you decide they're just not for you anymore, don't beat yourself up! Enjoy reading through these reminders that sometimes life has something even better in store for us than what we imagined, and feel free to share your own stories in the comments. Then, after you're finished here, if you're interested in checking out another Bored Panda article discussing why some people's dream jobs let them down, we recommend reading this piece next!