# How would you live your life if you had a second go at it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092 "2010-01-23T06:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/41 "2010-01-25T03:07:03Z")
> [@Hockey\_Monkey](#): > > Changing something you did in the past wouldn’t necessarily give you a better future…just a different one. Everyone always seems to think their current life is the result of major decisions they made when they were 18. I wonder how much is the result of relatively mundane decisions they don’t even know about. Today I’ll go to Starbucks to get coffee. I think I’ll buy the red tie instead of the blue one. Shit like that. I don’t really have any specific complaints though. At least not beyond the sort of vague “I don’t know what I REALLY want to do so I guess I’ll just do this” feelings I suppose a lot of people have. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/42 "2010-01-25T03:29:46Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Everyone always seems to think their current life is the result of major decisions they made when they were 18. I wonder how much is the result of relatively mundane decisions they don’t even know about. Today I’ll go to Starbucks to get coffee. I think I’ll buy the red tie instead of the blue one. Shit like that. > > I don’t really have any specific complaints though. At least not beyond the sort of vague “I don’t know what I REALLY want to do so I guess I’ll just do this” feelings I suppose a lot of people have. You know, one of the maddening games I play with myself is trying to trace something significant to my life back to an insignificant decision. For example, I do this with my marriage. I met my spouse in Vegas. We were both there to attend a convention for a magazine. It’s a fairly obscure magazine, so what if I’d never heard of it? Funny enough, I discovered the mag because someone here on the SDMB linked to an article. Then I ask, what if I never read the SDMB? What if after when my friend introduced me to Mr. Adams and the Straight Dope, I never bothered to tinker around with the message board. What if I never met that friend? Well, I met her in high school, but I never would have if I hadn’t gotten kicked out of my old school for being a giant pain in the ass. What silly decision did I make in my life at some point that led to this string of events? Would I have discovered the SDMB anyway? Or the magazine that led to the convention some other way? Would I have spoken to him? Maybe, but I’m certain the end result would have been different. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/43 "2010-01-25T04:02:54Z")
I’d disown my parents about 10 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![CHEN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@CHEN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CHEN)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/44 "2010-01-25T04:17:13Z")
I would prevent 9/11 and invest in the stock market. Probably. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/45 "2010-01-25T05:37:46Z")
I’ll just start from high school. - drink coffee (french press + thermos = better 1st period math grades) - smoke better cigars - drink fewer, but better beers (hey, kid ever heard of craft beer?) - trust condoms (passed up too many opportunities) - quit football, focus on wrestling, run track for the girls - lift weights five days a week - learn to play guitar or at least harmonica - forgo videogames - get the grades I was actually capable of - take six months to hike the Appalachian Trail before starting college - not bothering with ROTC - majoring in a field I can pursue a doctorate/job in, like dentistry - get my teeth capped (a dentist should have nice teeth) on my parents insurance - learn French - at least enough for conversation - study a little more - either date more, or just get married earlier \*hike the Continental Divide Trail after undergrad - pursue DDS at an ivy league school - live in a major city - have my own practice - divide my time and money between big city fun, and wilderness vacations God, it sounds exhausting. No wonder I am who I am. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/46 "2010-01-25T05:45:33Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Everyone always seems to think their current life is the result of major decisions they made when they were 18. I wonder how much is the result of relatively mundane decisions they don’t even know about. Today I’ll go to Starbucks to get coffee. I think I’ll buy the red tie instead of the blue one. Shit like that. > > I don’t really have any specific complaints though. At least not beyond the sort of vague “I don’t know what I REALLY want to do so I guess I’ll just do this” feelings I suppose a lot of people have. I often think that if I was able to travel back in time to my own body quasi-Quantum Leap-style, it would be at the cost of my children. Assuming I could still charm and marry the same woman, there’s no way I could reproduce the exact moment of conception – even if I memorized the hour, day, and minute; my children would be entirely different people. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/47 "2010-01-25T05:54:05Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Everyone always seems to think their current life is the result of major decisions they made when they were 18. I wonder how much is the result of relatively mundane decisions they don’t even know about. Today I’ll go to Starbucks to get coffee. I think I’ll buy the red tie instead of the blue one. Shit like that. > > I don’t really have any specific complaints though. At least not beyond the sort of vague “I don’t know what I REALLY want to do so I guess I’ll just do this” feelings I suppose a lot of people have. Most of us don’t remember the mundane decisions. For me I just know that leaving school saddled with the debt I had from college, there were a lot of things I simply couldn’t experience. Uncle Sam doesn’t give you much a leash with those student loans. So I went straight into a job that I knew would pay the bills. I spent my last semester of college abroad. There were numerous opportunities for me to stay over there. But I also knew that none of those opportunities would cover my loan payments. So I returned and worked in a shit job until I could get into grad school and defer my payments even further into the future. ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/48 "2010-01-25T12:54:37Z")
Woulda tried to get on the fire dept back in my 20’s, then I’d be lookin at retirement with 1/2 pay for life right about now. Obviously, assuming everything worked out. Instead sorta drifted into a job I’m not crazy about, but don’t know what else to do. Just had no idea what I wanted then. Still feel a flash of envy/regret when I see a fire truck go by! Too old to pursue that now, maybe in my next life! Also Prolly woulda fought harder to hold onto a coupla different women who, looking back, were pretty spcecial. But naw, plenty 'o fish in the sea, said I! Yeah, my head was up my ass. :smack: But hey, it all happens for a reason right, blah blah blah. Bartender, when ya get a chance? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/49 "2010-01-25T14:12:27Z")
I can’t guarantee that it would change the eventual decisions that I would have made, but I would have made an effort to travel more (specifically, internationally) when I was younger. It’s not so much that I would change the life that I have so much, just that I would have taken the chance to do it while I was young. I’ll never have the chance to do something like study abroad now and I wish I’d done so in college. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/50 "2010-01-25T14:44:34Z")
Let’s see: 1. I’d go to work for the Census Bureau right out of college (which simply never occurred to me at the time), rather than starting work here in my mid-40s. I’ve had a great time working here so far; I only wish I’d started earlier. Plus, even if I took the same time out for grad school as I did anyway, I’d be about 14 years closer to retirement. 2. I’d have taken more initiative romantically during my single days. I definitely left some opportunities sitting on the table, so to speak. They probably wouldn’t have led to anything permanent, but it would have been a bit more good times along the way. 3. I’d have traveled a lot more during my single years. That’s really about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/51 "2010-01-26T00:32:59Z")
I was thinking about this lately and I came to the conclusion that I would live close to my family. I left home at 17 and have spent most of the succeeding 40 years living in a different state from my parents (when they were alive) and my siblings. I’ve recently realized that I would be much happier around my family members, even if they live in weird places (where ‘weird places’ = not coastal California). Also, I would get treatment for the ADD earlier. And go to college. Maybe even finish college. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092/52 "2010-01-27T15:53:37Z")
Exercise more consistently. I have spent the last two years of my life getting in some sort of shape - it is pretty hard work after 40. I wish I had got and kept in shape from my twenties. Si [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-live-your-life-if-you-had-a-second-go-at-it/526092.md?page=2)