If you could do it all again

[Yopaz]

As someone who's done a massive fuck-up when it comes to choice of education I wouldn't change a thing. My life has been far from perfect and there are of course things I wish wouldn't be the way it is, but it has all ended up at a point where I am actually quite satisfied with how things are.

I didn't complete my first line of education and dropped out and started a new field (which I actually applied for the first time around), but I did gain some valuable experience, some good friends and I actually managed to get two part time jobs out of it (one that paid EXTREMELY well). When I started my second education I ended up meeting people I most likely wouldn't have met if I had started right away and now some of these are among my closest friends.

Now I am working on my master thesis while simultaneously being paid as a scientific assistant for working on a research project. This may sound like an exaggeration, but that's as close to my dream job I could possibly come and something I kinda thought would never happen. If the timing had been different I might not have been able to do any of this. I'll keep my regrets and sorrows and learn from them while also acknowledging how lucky I've been.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Spend all my time lifting weights and make mad gainz with my young powerful hormones.

and lay off the chips! Why did I let myself get so fat back then argh, what a waste.

 

[fenrizz]

All my choices in life, good or bad ones, have led me to where I am today, so no, I would not choose differently if given the opportunity.

I'm actually quite happy with how my life has turned out so far.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Everyone has regrets. Let's say you have some massive power to rewrite history, you'd still likely screw it up again ... just in a new, creative way. "I hated my time when I first went to uni, instead of studying (x) I'll instead study ..." And then you'll have regrets about that choice, and think maybe you should have studied something else.

The effect is magnified if you then FORGET what you have done in lieu of studying what you did study. I mean, if you had the power to revisit and redo any part of your life again, whilst knowing everything that you have ever done, then no one is going to regret ANYTHING because EVERYTHING is a meaningless blunder that you can avoid anyways, without any loss.

So the idea that of regret is necessary to despair, which is necessary to transformation. Remove the regret and despair, then you remove the impetus for change. But because you can't achieve a state of being beyond regret and despair in the pursuit of self-improvement, then you're not likely to improve ANYTHING other than being able to relive a moment of your life when you create the same amount of regret, only with a different outcome.

Let's face it ... if we had the power to rewrite history, all of us would settle for; "I regret picking the wrong numbers on my lottery ticket." In which case, there is a decreased impetus to put up with all the trivialities of studying and working hard, which in turn creates more regrets about merely enjoying the luxuries that your money provides.

In the end, humans are made better by their regrets and having regrets. It is of ultimate merit to be able to despair.

OT: I actually regret starting a business. That shit gets old, fast. People treat you as a job provider and that's the extent of your relationship to how you should run your business. Banks and governments treat you like the mob treats people who don't feel like paying protection money. Private sources of money that can be extorted through a variety of arbitrary means. All because of a shortfall of funds in their coffers, because they don't dare chase larger businesses because small business lacks the legal muscle to protect itself.

So, in the end ... you're the lowest one the totem pole. And if you ever complain, people begin to think of you some privileged baron of the land, twirling an invisible moustache and drinking baby's tears from an ivory challice made from the bones of dead labourers.

 

[Johnny Impact]

Don't be such a goddamned victim. I was bullied incessantly and I just took it and took it. Administrative punishment is a bad joke. The only ones who can stop bullying are you and the bully, and he ain't gonna stop unless something stops him. Bullies are mean and stupid, so words don't work. The only thing that absolutely will convey your intention not to be fucked with any longer is to deliver a truckload of agony upon his body. The first time another kid messed with me, I'd beat him to levels of pain and injury he couldn't possibly have imagined prior to that moment. I think messing up the first one's face would send a pretty strong message to the others and I'd have a relatively trouble-free time thenceforth. Also, the girls who did

Spoiler: this

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.858817-Cheating-in-relationships?page=3#21320521
(relevant portion about halfway down)
EDIT: not sure why link is dead.

are getting punched in the face with every ounce of force I can muster. I may actually break my hand.

Would do something different with my crush. I was way too awkward to have a chance the first time around. The problem is, at that age attraction is so powerful, and I had so little experience trying to manage it, I might as well have been wearing a neon sign. I don't regret having a crush. That's just being human. I don't regret who I had it on. She was smart, pretty, athletic, and genuinely cool, rather than trying-too-hard-to-be-cool cool. I still like that sort of person today. What I do regret is not keeping it wrapped up better. I tried to stay away but I'm fairly certain I came off like The Crazy Kid From Down The Block Who Probably Cuts The Legs Off Rats In His Dad's Basement. If I had it to do over again I'd either ask her out or stay even further away. Probably the second.

I wouldn't do that one embarrassing social blunder that everyone's probably forgotten about but it keeps you up at night anyway.

Yeah, that. And no, everyone has NOT forgotten. Trust me on that one.

Get to know my grandfather on my Mom's side better. My other grandpa died when I was two, so not a lot of time there.

I'd like to say I'd play less video games, but I don't think that's true.

Lift weights. Run. Get outside more.

Fuck off and do what I wanted once in a while. Have some friends, or at least try to. My mother's blind, stupid overprotectiveness and my blind, stupid obedience to same basically led me to spend all my time at home. We lived in a rural area, I wasn't allowed out of sight of the house, which meant NOBODY's house was in bounds. This caused or at least contributed to the extreme social retardation that served me so poorly for so many years.

Be nice to the good people in my life. I was quite the angry little shit.

Make known to the company president, four years earlier than I did, the inexcusable shit this one manager was doing.

 

[FPLOON]

Oh glob, the first thing I thought about was buying more variety of clothing... and then let the questioning commence afterwards...

Other than that, I don't think I would change anything else because the clothes thing would do that for me, anyway...

 

[Gunner 51]

The more I think of it, there are a few things in my life that I'd like to retry.

1.) Try to call Lisa on the day she committed suicide. I'm still sure to this day I could have saved her life if I had let her know what she meant to me, Phaedra and everyone else.

2.) Never start watching the news, I swear it's responsible for most of the depressiveness I feel today in terms of how the world is.

3.) When Frances asked me out, say yes. She's hard work, but she turns out to be the one thing in the world that could make me truly happy in a world that's gone to shit.

I guess if nothing else, I should learn that you should hold on tight to your friends - but sometimes, you just cannot hold on tight enough.

 

[Elvis Starburst]

Honestly, I don't even know. I'm scared I'd change a lot of things if I tried to avoid a lot of the crap I took... The biggest thing was getting involved with someone I shouldn't have at age 14. I didn't think the nest 4-5 years would be so hard. "It's only online, just block him!" I kept hearing at times. No... That's not how emotional and mental control works. It just doesn't work like that.

But, I dunno how much of that I'd change, because it helped me become the person I am today. Compassionate, and better with the knowledge I gained. Do I wish I didn't have some of the memories? Absolutely. But, I came out fine, amazing compared to what I used to be. To say I benefited is a damn understatement. Just sucks it had to come at the price of a lot of my free time and emotional exhaustion. Weeeee!

 

[Artina89]

I can't honestly come up with anything. I am in a job that I love, I got good grades in school and university and I enjoyed my childhood. If I really would have to come up with anything, it would be to learn Italian and German at the same time that I learnt French as I really want to learn more languages, but at the moment I don't really have that much time, but I can find a way to easily remedy it somehow.

 

[cathou]

i'm not sure. the obvious answer would be not telling my mom to never to speak to me again, wich would have me not going to a bar that night and leave with a guy that would destroy 2 years of my life with drugs, witch left me broken and going on a bridge one night to jump off.

and instead goes to school, have a diploma and a good job much earlier in my life.

but, i wouldn't had worked in bars and meet that girl there that went for me on that bridge. and i wouldnt be married and be the mom of two beautifull daugther today. so why have regrets ?

 

[NeutralStasis]

I have thought about this in the past and I am unsure what I would change. Where could I have zigged when I zagged? Would the outcome actually be better than I have it now. I would likely saved more money up till this point. When I had the option to take two different jobs earlier in my life, I would have taken the one I passed on. Those things alone would likely make enough changes to rock my life.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

I wouldn't do that one embarrassing social blunder that everyone's probably forgotten about but it keeps you up at night anyway.

Yeah, that one.

You're thinking about it right now, aren't you?

Hehehehe, hahahahaah, oh... ahahahah...
You are a terrible person.

Now here I am, thinking of that social blunder. Now I'm just reminded of that comedians sketch about how different places you look mean different things, with regret right in-front of you, all the time.

 

[spartan231490]

I actually wouldn't change all that much. A little nudge here, a little tap there. I'd have been a bit more courageous about an investment or two, maybe a little more forward with a few young women, that's pretty much it. I'd have worked a little harder in college, I guess that's really the only big change.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I would have gotten a job sooner...I probably could have got in with Blockbuster much, much sooner for example and that little bit of extra experience could have been a nice boon...if nothing else I may have qualified for unemployment when my store shut down. There is a person I would have asked out, there are a few people I wouldn't have asked out, I would have gone with the DS much sooner, I would have grabbed some far different GBA games, I would have chosen the PS2 or Gamecube instead of the Xbox (I ended up with all three eventually anyway)...I probably would have tried harder in my little bit of CC but I don't see myself choosing to stay, even if I chose to go back at all...I would also try to hold onto my older games that I had as a younger kid and definitely the boxes and manuals.