Jessie Stephens: Here are my 7 biggest regrets.

Here's the thing. When I can't sleep and it is three o'clock in the morning, the things I've said and the things I've done run right through my head. 

And I hate myself for it.

My regrets are front of mind. I've got more than a few.

In fact, I thought I had just three regrets to share, but then as I began to compile the list, I realised it was a lot more like three categories.

Mia Freedman and Holly Wainwright have shared their regrets, so I thought I should share mine as well. For the full list, go and listen to Mamamia Out Loud here.

So without further ado, here are mine. 

1. Laser treatment.

Why didn't I get it at 20 instead of 31? I'm talking about laser hair removal, where you get places like your armpits and your bikini line hair removed. 

It is one of those things where the second you do it you're like, 'Why did I not do this years earlier?'

It has just made summer holidays so much simpler. 

2. Sunscreen. 

I hate that everyone says sunscreen is a regret, but it's so true.

When I was young, I remember one of my mum's friends looking at me after having just gotten back from the beach. I was very rosy-cheeked with the utmost belief that I looked beautiful. She said to me, 'I know you don't want to listen to me. But put sunscreen on your face.' I think she was about 35 and explained she had pigmentation having been from Ireland and migrating to Australia. 

I was about 20 and had those beautiful little freckles that you get from the sun. I was like, 'Oh, that won't happen to me old lady. That won't happen.' 

Except it did. 

3. Getting a facial scar the week before my 21st birthday.

It was a week before my 21st birthday. I had drunk too much and while I was walking down the stairs of a nightclub in Sydney, I fell. 

I landed on my tooth and it went through my bottom lip and there's a big scar under my lip. 

Now because I was so intoxicated, I felt no pain. I got home, went to bed, got up the next morning and my teeth were wobbly. 

I may have looked like Angelina Jolie, but I couldn't eat anything at my 21st because salt really stung. I ended up going to the dentist, and he told me that if they turned black, then the nerves are damaged and I'd need a root canal. I waited a week and suddenly they just stopped wobbling. 

My teeth kind of repaired themselves, but in hindsight though, I should have gotten stitches. I think that every time I look at a photo of myself. 

4. Not travelling more.

I don't know why I didn't, but I regret not going on an international exchange while studying at university. I wish I'd gone to Sweden. 

Truthfully, I'm not much of a risk-taker. It would have been a bit too hard and complicated, but everyone who went just raved about it. 

5. Commenting on someone's appearance. 

I remember I had just finished school, and while I was out shopping with my mum, I ran into a girl I had gone to school with and liked a lot.

As soon as I saw her, I noticed she had lost weight and looked very different. Before I could stop myself, the words that came out of my mouth were: "You look so different. You look great." 

I didn't even think that was a really inappropriate thing to say, until we walked away and my mum said, "Do you notice what you just said to her?"

It sucks that a really naïve comment I made without a second thought was probably something that girl would have thought about for ages. It was just a shit thing to say, and it still haunts me. 

6. Making a bad first impression on my brother's girlfriend. 

My brother introduced me to his first girlfriend, and I'm not quite sure why but I must've been tired and so I left to have a nap, at like two o'clock in the afternoon. 

Afterwards, he told me how nervous he was to introduce her to me and that me going to bed made her feel really uncomfortable. It was a shit thing to do. You can't make a first impression again, so I regret that! 

7. Not fighting back against bullies.

I wish I had not stood by and laughed while I watched my fellow seventh graders bully a girl in my class. I should have intervened. At the end of the day, you'll always regret not being kinder to people. 

Now that I've shared my regrets, I want to know yours. Let me know in the comments below! 

Feature Image: Supplied.