“I Wish I Had Listened”: 25 Times People Ignored Their Inner Voice And Regretted It

Our gut has a funny way of knowing things before our brain catches up. Sometimes it’s a quiet whisper, sometimes a full-blown siren, but either way, ignoring it can lead to some unforgettable “I knew it” moments.

On Reddit, two threads asked: "What happened when your gut feeling was warning you, but you didn’t listen?" and "What’s a time you ignored that gut feeling and came to regret it?" The responses were a mix of chilling close calls, hard-learned life lessons, and a few "should’ve seen that coming" stories.

Reading through them, one thing becomes clear: your gut may not always explain why it’s uneasy, but it’s rarely wrong. These real-life tales are a reminder that sometimes, that tiny voice in the back of your mind is the most important one to hear.

#1

Image source: anon, sosiukin/freepik Friend ghosted me for a year. Had a gut feeling I should not reach out to talk to him, I did. Things were good until I got pregnant with my partner.. gut feeling told me I should just cut off contact with the friend… I didn’t. He gave me a key to his house in a Mother’s Day card and I stopped talking to him. It got weird really quickly, telling his entire family it was HIS baby, he told my partner it was HIS baby and tried to sabotage my relationship because he felt like we were meant to be together. I should have trusted those gut feelings. Instead I gave him the benefit of the doubt and ended up with a hell of a lot of stress JUST after I had a baby and I spent the next 6 months paranoid they were going to turn up at my door.

#2

Image source: SurroundedByCrazy789, prostooleh/freepik I knew something was different about my son from the first time I held him, not bad, just different. By the time he was a year I knew it was autism. I let other people convince me I was being crazy until he was 2 before I put my foot down and got him help. I was right, and thankfully he has been in therapy and getting help since then and come so, so far. But I should have followed my gut and got him help as soon as possible.

#3

Image source: matanemar, diana.grytsku/freepik I lost my friend in the crowd at a beer festival. I found her back when it was time to leave. I didn't *see* her drink all that much but I told her my brother could come pick us up and she didn't have to drive. She assured me she was fine. She didn't look drunk but I felt something was wrong. However I didn't want to start a fight so I got in and decided to trust her. The car flipped twice before crashing in a gas station parking lot. I was miraculously unarmed, except for the PTSD that makes me unable to drive to this day. My friend also survived. I should've just called my brother and let her crash alone.

#4

Image source: PuzzleheadedLaw6571, yaroslav-astakhov-/freepik Ignored a feeling, literally, in my gut. My appendix ruptured and I waited two days to go to the hospital. Lucky to be alive.

#5

Well not me but my mom always had a bad feeling about my uncle's wife. While they were married she tried and failed to place a hit on him. They aren't together anymore. Image source: MegazardY117

#6

Image source: it-must-be-orange, rawpixel.com/freepik Erratic bus driver, I thought of getting off at the next stop, but didn't. He crashed the bus right after (into a ditch).

#7

When I opened up the door for my best friend. I had been friends with a guy for around four years. I lived at home alone . I had a deaf pitbull I had for about a year. My guy best friend came to stay the night with me a week prior to the incident. He had known my dog since I got him as a puppy and my dog was trying to attack him. My dog chewed through three doors just to get to him he wound up not staying the night. My dog has literally never acted like that towards anybody the sweetest dog ever met and yet my dog continuously try to attack him. About a week later I get off work in about an hour goes by I’m watching TV and my dog starts going ballistic. Once again he is deaf he cannot hear anything suddenly a knock on my door happens. Ask who it is and it is my guy friend. I suddenly get this gut feeling that I shouldn’t open this door that something terrible about to happen. I felt safe because my dog was behind me I went to go open the door for him and I’m pulled out and thrown to the ground with three grown men continuously beating the c**p out of me. They continued to beat me for around five minutes. It took the cops two days to get “my friend” after this had happend. Needless to say I always trust your pets and always trust your gut. Image source: choppersmomma101

#8

Image source: unicorn-jones, dmytro_sidelnikov/freepik He was supposedly sober for four months, but sometimes he seemed off, or I thought I caught a whiff of alcohol. Denial, indignation, an occasionally decent explanation--he'd been using alcohol to cook at work, he had just taken the wine at church. He was sober a grand total of three weeks out of those four months.

#9

Walking back home from a friends place after a get together a few days before Christmas last year. I’m only 5 blocks away and I always walk on a busy boulevard before turning the corner down my block to my apartment building which I’d say is about 400, maybe 500 feet away. Anyway I’m now 2 blocks from mine, when I hear a guy say that guy there and I glance to my left and see a guy talking to a driver of a car stopped at a traffic light, look at me. He immediately turned and walked towards me crossing the street toward me. My gut kicked in right away and my mind started racing do I continue on to my building not knowing if I can make it before that guy is near me, can I even run ( I had hernia surgery about 5 weeks prior and still had physical restrictions and limitations) or should I walk another half block and into an always busy bar? I opted to continue home thinking I’ve made this walk for years, I’m just being paranoid. I got to my corner glance back, guy still following, I’d say he’s a good 300 or more feet back. As I turn my corner my gut kicks back in and i start running as best and as fast as I can which is no where near my normal speed but the guy can’t see me as I m now I’m obstructed by a building. I get close to my building and I see the guy is in fact running but he obviously didn’t expect me to do so as I now have put a good amount of distance between us. I get in my building, slam the lock door shut and get to the elevator quickly which thankfully was there. Never again will I doubt my gut. I was very lucky, could’ve been much worse. Image source: awesomeone6044

#10

Image source: anon, freepik My guy friend came to pick me up one night and when I saw his face I could immediately tell he was high on something. My gut was screaming at me to get out of his car but I trusted him and didn't think anything would happen to me. Well, I was wrong. That night turned into hours of trying to placate him so he wouldn't bash my head in. I was terrified he was going to k**l me because of how unpredictable and violent he was acting. If everything he told me that night is true then that means he is a violent war criminal who tortured some people in Afghanistan while he was deployed. I listen to my gut more now, and I've also learned not to automatically trust someone just because they wear a uniform.

#11

Image source: anon, pixaflow/freepik I was due with my second child in 3-4 weeks. Went to the doctor on a Fri, she checked and said I wasn't even close to labor. My husband was supposed to leave for a business trip on Monday. On Mon morning, I randomly said "I don't think you should go on your trip." But not me... I went to work (worked in a secured area on military base at least 40 min away from the hospital). On my way in, I thought "maybe I should just stay home." But I didn't and just ignored my gut. My water broke at work in front of coworkers. They wanted to alert the base and have them carry me out on a stretcher WHICH I REFUSED because I have to work with all these people. We made it to the hospital and my husband did not end up missing the birth of our baby (thankfully!).

#12

A few weeks before my wedding I began to get cold feet. It gnawed at me day and night; whenever I'd talk to friends about it they all said, "that's typical. Don't worry." I filed for divorce about 1 year later. I now pay close attention to my inner voice. Image source: WeasersMom14

#13

My best friend and I were in a bit of a tiff. This morning I felt the urge to text him and say I love him. He died on the operating table hours ago after a motorcycle crash. I love you Jonathan. Image source: Kirkandstuff

#14

When I was younger I was always very uncomfortable around my stepfather’s sister’s husband. He was always very flirtatious with my mom, so she thought he was just great. Like he could do no wrong because he flirted with her, which was inherently wrong anyway. The sister and him ended up having a messy divorce because he cheated. In the midst of it he killed the family’s German Shepard. There was a big fallout about what a creep he was, but I knew since I was 6. Image source: Barnitch

#15

Yes! I was always concerned that my ex-wife would end up getting bored with me and divorcing. She had a tendency to jump between different things (e.g., college degrees, interests, etc.). In fact, I waited 7 years to get married partly because of this concern, but finally convinced myself that my concern was made up (and I was in love). Well, after 7 years of marriage she said she wants a divorce. I will always listen to my intuition in the future. Image source: anon

#16

Letting a best friend back into my life multiple times and she did pretty much the same thing each time (pretty dumb of me to believe she changed for the better and each time it got worse). Image source: SignificantSwimmer97

#17

Image source: Royal-Marketing-3871, The Yuri Arcurs Collection/freepik I lived on a “farm” way outside of city limits. People who don’t want their dogs anymore have a habit of dumping their dogs or other animals near our property thinking that millions of years of suppressed instincts will suddenly appear and the dog will be fine because nature. I had chickens and they were my pride and joy. Sadly, chickens are very fragile and all the dogs+other critters that are around the property get to them sometimes. We had this husky mix that we were going to potentially adopt in the moment that someone had recently dumped, solely because he got along well with the chickens and didn’t hurt them (he also got along with our dogs). Now this is where things start to turn bad. I have anxiety and horrible sense of if I’m being paranoid or if it’s an actual gut feeling. We had to take our dog to the vet and when we got home we would take the husky to the vet. Turns out that I was having a gut feeling but dismissed it. My mom is mean and I convinced myself that she would make a comment on how he had done so well before outside with the chickens that it would be fine if he was by himself for the day. Wrong. When my mom drove pass me and my aunt, she called saying there was some blood on him and that we should check on the chickens when we got home. My aunt goes into a panic and I got a sickly feeling in my stomach. (GRAPHIC WARNING⚠️) When we got home, there was a disembodied chicken wing in our front yard. My aunt immediately covered my eyes and lead me inside while I was shaking. I wasn’t allowed outside until she had cleaned up in the front yard with my little sister. We tried looking around everywhere but we gave up for a bit. It wasn’t until my dad got home we tried looking again. I was very upset and my sister is almost a textbook definition of lazy when it comes to looking for things. I screamed at her about what if it was her cat that was missing since I was missing five whole chickens. I eventually found one. Pure grief is something I never want to experience ever again. Anger, grief, regret where the three pure emotions I felt that day. Three of my ladies were dead. Because I couldn’t tell a gut feeling to anxiety. I have two out of the five left, but I can never tell them that it was my fault that their sisters were killed. That one of my hens, the one out of her four sisters we had raised since they were chicks, were dead because I was an idiot. I’ve had chickens eaten and killed, but it never hurt as hard as this loss did. It was entirely my fault. I never wanted more than to hurt an animal than I did that dog. I love animals and adore them, yet the amount of hatred and violence I held back from that dog. We only had him for twelve hours after the incident. I remember glaring at that dog as my mom held him and talked to his new owners on the phone. I stayed a good six to ten feet away so that way I wouldn’t do something I would regret. I still don’t forgive myself for my chickens lives being lost. I would do anything to be able to tell them that I’m sorry and that they would be able to understand that.

#18

Oh boy.... Well when I started dating my first and so far only boyfriend I had a really weird feeling at first but brushed it off as my social awkwardness, and general nervousness around people, the first year and a half were for most part fine, he was my best friend before and during our relationship, however for whatever reason he began to be pretty pushy, he would get upset with me over the smallest of things, i.e, not answering the phone, being busy, or even just saying no to dates that I physically could not go to because of other plans or family things. I again got a feeling that I should just ghost him, but I didn't and it progressed into him not liking any of my friends which in turn lead to me eventually cutting ties with all of them, he then began gaslighting me, and when I did want to leave the relationship he threatened his life if I did, he made me feel awful about myself and I ended up starving myself for multiple reasons, I did finally get away from him but he stalking me and my family for a little over a year before we moved, safe to say I really wish I listened to that feeling. Image source: anonymous_castaway

#19

Image source: OlichkaLove25, freepik To check on my father that 1 night, he passed away the next day. He suffered with cancer for 8 months and I truly thought he had more time. I never got to say goodbye. I touched his head at his funeral.

#20

Image source: anon, freepik I had a bad feeling out of nowhere about a Hinge date. As soon as my Uber pulled up and I saw him my heart just sank. Something felt wrong. We walked together and talked about not much and I honestly felt sick, like it was hard to breathe. I just needed to get away from him. I sat down and said I wasn't feeling well and had to go home. He was immediately concerned and offered to flag a cab for me which made me feel like I was being dumb and I should give it a chance. After all he hadn't done anything. He ended up confessing to me that he had killed three classmates in high school. He grew up in a developing country and his family had money, so they just covered it up and moved him away. Not my best online dating experience.

#21

Image source: Most_Mossiest, freepik Didn’t wanna get in an elevator with a guy late at night. Succumbed to social pressure (didn’t wanna seem rude) and he attacked me.

#22

Image source: altheacollette, freepik I had a gut feeling that my (now ex) boyfriend had been cheating on me. I chose to ignore it and thought it was all in my head and I was being jealous. Two years later I the gut feeling grew and grew and I eventually discovered that he had a girlfriend the entire time we were together, from before we had even met. So, I guess he wasn't cheating on me, he was cheating on her, with me. Still counts.

#23

I ate assorted chocolates that I randomly grabbed from Walmart. My gut was basically punching me as I ate about three, and without thinking I grabbed a Benadryl right after. Turned out one or more of said chocolates had peanuts in them. I pushed away the worry shortly after and immediately went to take a shower, as I had school tomorrow and it was already late enough. By the time I got out, my stomach felt like someone had stabbed me repeatedly and I could barely stand. I thought it might’ve just been a stomach bug and tried to sleep it off/rest until I vomited. Well, after tossing and turning in agony, I finally got up and went into the bathroom. As soon as I turned on the light, I looked and the mirror and freaked tf out. My ears had doubled in size, my face was puffy, and when I looked at my arms there were giant hives scattered around. I immediately called my grandma and she took me to the er, where they gave me a medicine (can’t remember what it was exactly) and stayed for a couple more hours until I was ok to go home. We were both genuinely surprised I didn’t asphyxiate due to how severe my allergy is, but I guess my random Benadryl pill helped me enough…? Missed school the next day though so that was a plus, but I’ve now learned to thoroughly read labels instead of skimming through and reading just the “contains” and “may contain” lists at the bottom of the ingredients. Image source: worblingorbles

#24

Met a girl at a party. Had a gut feeling I shouldn't get involved with her. I have a lot of those feelings though and I usually listen them. This time I thought, maybe my gut is wrong? I never really tested it. I thought I could be rejecting perfectly decent girls for no reason. So when she sat on my lap, made out with me, and we sealed the deal, I figured this wasn't so bad. Turned out we really liked eachother so we kept seeing eachother. After a few weeks of good times, it turned into year and a half relationship with crazy. Never doubted my gut again. Image source: Disillusi0n

#25

Image source: anon, Wavebreak Media/freepik I bought a house in 2007. I just knew the housing market would crash, but I let the wife talk me into it.