Flawed characters are the ones who turn out to be the most interesting, as it is through their mistakes that their development can be appreciated. For the viewer, too, it’s understanding these mistakes that convey the message behind the story.
Robin was a headstrong and independent character on How I Met Your Mother, but one who had to experience quite a lot of heartbreak. These sad times could have been avoided had she understood where she was making mistakes, and here are 10 such that the viewer can very well learn from. You’ll find the context and impact of these decisions detailed below.
Planning Her Life In Advance
While Robin claimed she didn’t like having her life planned out for her, she was essentially lying to herself. Seeing as she had planned her career out all in her head, planned to move to Argentina - with all of this done even before she moved to New York - it’s clear she’d made up her mind.
However, this was a mistake in her part since Robin set herself up for disappointment. She wouldn’t have become downtrodden with her lack of success had she given it time, rather than lament over how they weren’t going according to plan. Her move around the world didn’t pan out in the long-run either, proving that constant planning isn’t the way to go.
Rejecting The Person Who Loved Her Unconditionally
Robin turned down Ted’s advances more times than one could count, yet the latter pined after her endlessly. Before the finale, the idea was that Robin might be mature enough to know her feelings, but she came to regret shooting down Ted’s proposals by 2015.
The funny thing is, had Robin simply not been so stubborn in her refusal, she wouldn’t have had to wait until 2030 to finally have a constant companion in life. Since she and Ted would have ended up together anyway, Robin simply wasted her best years for no reason when she could’ve been happily committed the whole time.
Choosing Work Over Love Every Time
By the end of the series, Robin was right back where she started, in that she was alone and only had pets to keep her company. This was the result of choosing work over love, something that made her lose Barney along the way.
With Robin never actually making the biggest name for herself, she would have done better by giving love a chance and having constant support in her endeavors. There’s no doubt that someone like Ted or Barney would have kept her happy while simultaneously encouraging her to be the best at her career.
Not Making Time For Friends
A long period of estrangement followed between Robin and her friends after 2016, where it got to the point where just the sight of Robin made them marvel at how things had changed. In a deleted scene from the finale, Robin was shown admitting to Ted how she regretted giving the friend group up.
Other shows have had friendships that stood the test of time while simultaneously empowering the characters, while Robin’s estrangement only brought her further loneliness rather than make her focus on her career.
Assuming Children Are The Worst
Every viewer is aware of Robin’s great dislike of children, because of which she swore off ever wanting to raise her own. However, this was defied by Robin herself when it was revealed she had grown exceptionally close to Ted’s children.
Unfortunately, Robin had earlier lost her original best friend, Jessica Glitter, because she couldn’t accept the latter’s child. Had she realized that the influence of children could make her happy, then Robin wouldn’t have had to wait so long to become close to Ted and Lily’s kids.
Refusing To Compromise With Her Romantic Partner
In all fairness, Robin’s relationship issues were of her doing, as she constantly broke up with her love interests over things that could have easily been resolved through discussion. Don’s move to Chicago, Kevin wanting children, Barney and Ted wanting a deeper commitment, all of these were far from unsolvable problems.
However, in each of these instances Robin was the one to pull the trigger as she would present her romantic partners with options to leave her rather than talk things over. Her divorce with Barney could have been avoided had they talked about a compromise.
Harboring Resentment Toward Her Father
There’s no doubt that Robin’s issues with her father was majorly the latter’s fault, as he took to treating his daughter as the son he never had. However, it was also made clear that not talking to her father had only brought grief to Robin.
While it would be a difficult task swallowing her anger, had Robin kept her father in her life, then she wouldn’t have had to wait over a decade before they were finally on good terms. Considering how happy she was to have reconciled with him, this act would have saved her a world of grief.
Avoiding To Have "The Talk"
Establishing boundaries needs to be one of the first steps of being in a relationship, in order to avoid any chance of resentment later on. With Robin, her insistence with avoiding “the talk” and keeping things casual meant most of her boyfriends didn’t take her feelings seriously.
Her first breakup with Barney was mainly due to this reason, as neither of the two had defined what they meant to each other and this pressure caused them to become unhappy. It was only when they had their real talk that they came to the conclusion that they had been incompatible.
Being In A Relationship With Her Therapist
It’s never a good idea to date one’s therapist, no matter how compatible they may seem. Robin’s act of cheating on Kevin mainly had to do with the fact that she couldn’t feel comfortable with him, since he’d already seen her in such a vulnerable state. This drove her toward Barney in a doomed dalliance.
Being with Kevin also brought pressure on Robin to push herself in a deeper commitment, despite Robin not really feeling ready to do so. There’s also the simple matter that a doctor-patient relationship is completely unethical, and it would never work out in real life.
Being In Denial About Her Relationship Working Out
The reality is that problems don’t have a magical solution to them, and letting a deep seated issue fester will only make things blow up in due course. In Robin’s case, this is what happened in her relationship with Ted.
Despite clearly having a huge clash, in that he wanted to marry and have children while she didn’t, the two remained a couple for over a year in the entirety of Season 2. Both of them knew it wasn’t working out, yet stayed together hoping the other person would change their mind. Robin was just as guilty as Ted here, as she took to avoiding the subject rather than confronting it.