Look, I think it's safe to say that we've all had our fair share of bad ideas in our lifetimes.
Well, this week Reddit user MercyMeOhMy made us remember our less than perfect life choices when they asked, "What was your 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' story?"
Here are just a few of the cringe-worthy results:
1. This exam-interrupter:
"In high school, my friend discovered that he was particularly good at running toward a wall and kicking off of it into a backflip. He would do this all day, every day. Once we were in class and the teacher had stepped out for a moment. Of course, he took this opportunity to try his little trick. He didn't, however, take into account the fact that drywall might not support his weight as well as the brick and concrete walls he'd tried before. His leg ended up busting straight through the wall to the other side and into a classroom full of students taking an exam."
2. This new driver:
"I let my 14-year-old cousin drive the family car. I was like 18, and I told him it was easy to drive an automatic car. I said the gas pedal was on the right and brakes were on the left, but I forgot to mention that putting the car into "drive" will automatically make the car move forward. We both panicked and hit a tree in front of us at one mile per hour."
3. This New Year celebration gone wrong:
"My friends and I were shooting each other with fireworks on New Year's Eve. One landed directly in between my eyes. Thankfully, it didn't go off and I wasn't injured."
4. This busted biker:
"When I was a kid, I tried to ride my bike up the trunk of a tree so I could kick off and try to land it. I thought it'd be really cool...turns out a tree trunk is rounded, so you'll just slip off the trunk and hit your head on the tree. My brother still gives me shit about trying to ride my bike up a tree."
5. This adventurous swinger:
"In the fifth grade I invented a game where you get the swing as high and fast as you can, then at the bottom you run off it really fast. Well, I timed it wrong and my head landed on the asphalt. I got a serious concussion."
6. This burning breeze:
"My cousin and I were sitting on his balcony on a breezy day and we decided to spray some of my pepper spray into the air to see what it smelled like. Oh, how our eyes burned."
7. This jet-setter:
"I went on a solo trip to Costa Rica when I was 26. I’m a fairly petite female, and I speak no Spanish. The place I was staying helped me arrange a guide for an all-day hike. We were flown in a four-seater plane into the jungle that was a 26-hour walk to the nearest town. The plane landed and my guide and I hopped out. The plane took off again, leaving me, my guide, and his machete alone for the day. Thankfully, it was fine, but as soon as that plane took off, I realized I had made a bad choice."
8. This ride-along:
"On a rainy day, I saw a hitchhiker near the university asking for a ride. Although I never pick up hitchhikers, I felt sorry for him standing in the rain and gave him a lift. He told me where he was headed, so I went out of my way to drive him there. The guy just kept staring at me and said very little. When we arrived at his destination, he wouldn't get out of my car. Finally, when a police officer came along, I told him to hop out or I'd call the cop over for help. That ended it, but if the officer hadn't come by, I have no idea what might have happened."
9. This dangerous game:
"My friend and I used to play a game where we would throw a Swiss Army knife up in the air at nighttime and then run away from the sharp blade."
10. This late-night hike:
"In college, a large group of us hiked up to this abandoned mine shaft at night and took turns squeezing through a small crack in the mountain because the main entrance was closed off. We would walk down a long, dark corridor with our flashlights and then set up a campfire in one of the large clearings at the end and get wasted."
11. The breakfast club:
"I was in the area, so I stopped at my (now ex) girlfriend's house to ask her to go to breakfast with me. I pulled up to see her at the front door and her neighbor walking out of her place putting his shirt back on. She saw me, and I just shook my head, waved and left. I never spoke to her again."
12. This hair-raising mistake:
"When I was 16, I went through an emo/punk phase, and I decided I wanted to put colored streaks in my hair. I bought semi-permanent red dye for dark hair, because I had no idea how to bleach my hair. I got home, applied the dye and thought I was going to look so awesome. I had no idea what I was doing and instead of getting red streaks throughout my hair, I ended up with a huge red splotch at the top of my head because all dye clumped together. The next morning, my mom busted out laughing and said, 'Wow, you really fucked that up, didn't you?'"
13. This nail-biting experiment:
"I made bows and arrows with my friends when I was around 13. To ensure that the arrows got stuck in some tree or whatnot, we duct-taped 80 mm nails at their ends."
14. This sickly snack:
"My friend and I got high one day after school, but my mom hadn't been grocery shopping, so we didn't have any snacks. We decided to coat raw Pillsbury croissant dough in cinnamon sugar and eat it."
15. This practice swing:
"I practiced my golf swing while standing on my bed. I managed to take out two lights with the first swing — the bedside lamp and the overhead light. There was broken glass everywhere."
16. This dark day:
"I ran across the street with my eyes closed when I was 14. I didn't get hit by a car. However, I ran into a tree headfirst and cut my face and knee open."
17. And finally, this bangin' decision:
"I cut my own bangs at home. 'This YouTube tutorial looks so easy! What could go wrong?' Whoo, boy..."
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity. H/T Reddit.