My uncle lived through the 2008 crash, and it broke something in him. As everything was falling, he panicked and sold all of it. Just dumped everything at the worst possible time, desperate to stop the bleeding. And after that, he was done. He walked away from the market completely.
That was fifteen years ago. Fifteen. And in those fifteen years the market has gone up many times over. Everything he sold in fear went on to recover and then climb far higher, again and again, while he watched from the outside.
He still keeps all his money in FDs. Nothing but fixed deposits, the safest, quietest option there is. After what 2008 did to him, he never trusted equities again, and no rally since has been enough to pull him back in.
Every now and then, though, it slips out. A quiet "kaash tab bech na deta." Just that. If only I hadn't sold back then. He doesn't dwell on it or make it a big thing, but you can hear the weight in it. One panicked decision in one bad year, and he's been carrying that small, steady regret ever since.