By that I mean, with the knowledge you have now, would you jump at the opportunity to redo a certain period of your life for whatever reason? You have the time machine polished and ready to roll, and the patented time travel troll will make sure you’re up to date with all current events at your spacetime destination to avoid a rocky landing. However, there are two things to take into account:
The time, obviously. Is it really worth reliving five days? Five months? Five years? Where is the cut-off?
As Back to the Future has taught us, that pesky spacetime continuum is a real problem. You may be altering significant events that took place within that period of time, like getting married or that time you almost died (what about this time around?), etc.
For me, I think it would be incredible to relive high school again, but then again, I wouldn’t risk never becoming close with the friends I’ve made over the course of those four years. How about you?
If we’re allowed a do-over for just a certain period of time, I’d do high school over again in a heartbeat. So many social opportunities down the drain because I was so clueless and lacking in self confidence.
I couldn’t risk the chance of losing my girls. I can’t say what my life would have been like. If I could guarantee I’d still have them I’d love to go back to age 18 and try to take better care of my health.
If you mean put yourself into your past, so that you’re that age but with your current knowledge, I’d pretty much redo my life from age four. I’d like to try reliving my life with a few major differences:
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[li]having the perspective to know that my mother was in fact batshit crazy.[/li][li]avoiding a lifelong addiction to sugar and caffeine[/li][li]and mainly, growing up with at least a shred of self-esteem.[/li][/ul]
I would have tried to make a career change at least ten years earlier; or would not have gone into education if I’d had a clue that things were going to get so financially horrific.
I’d do it in a New York second. Going back to age 6 with remembering everything I learned from life, school, the army, and everything else? Why the hell wouldn’t I do that?! Start over in first grade, use your weekends and summer vacations to study a whole shitload of math, science, and business trends, invest in Microsoft stock, and watch the money and good times roll in. I wouldn’t even feel the pressure to get laid in high school, because I would already have been laid in my former life. I would get into twelve fistfights every week, learn to pick up hot skanks at the bowling alley, dismiss my parents as the raving loons they were instead of letting them get to me, and just have all the fun a 40-something-year-old kid with a second chance could possibly squeeze in.
The biggest challenge would be arranging to meet Mrs. Fresh by accident somehow, because I just can’t see myself with anyone else. That would take some planning. Still, with the money and opportunities I would have between the stocks and the academic scholarships, I believe I could arrange to be in Boston for one reason or another.
God . . . what I wouldn’t give for that opportunity!!
I was thinking along this line today. It might sound shallow and/or materialistic, but one thing I know for sure, I’d take better care of my stuff and not be so wasteful.
I wouldn’t let plants die. I’d groom the long-haired dog more often and I’d spay the cat before she had a litter. I wouldn’t loan books to people I barely know. I wouldn’t buy clothes without trying them on first (and then not bother to return them). I’d keep my car clean. I’d maintain stuff instead of waiting for breakdowns. I wouldn’t buy something just because it’s on sale. If there was a windfall, I’d save it.
Thinking of all the stuff I wasted or didn’t take care of properly makes me kinda sad.
I’d redo my college years and apply myself to my studies, fixing the broken parts of me I discovered during those years and taking better advantages of academic exchange opportunities. This is all ancillary to being more proactive in finding not first and foremost a more lucrative career path but certain one that would have been more satisfying and challenging.
I’d have to think whether I want to keep the friendships I invested in at that time because, out of all of them, only one is still “sort of” around.
And, along the lines of what AuntiePam said, when I found some article of clothing/shoes I really liked, I’d go ahead and buy it, or make an effort to buy more than one once I know (like I did one time with a pair of tennis shoes and bought six once I found I liked really them).
Yes, I’d live my elementary through college years again. Exactly as it was before, but with the knowledge I was living it over again and that I should savor it more. I’m 43 now.
I kept a journal in high school which I reread about 20 years ago. When I read a section about a school trip, it became obvious to me that a really cute girl liked me. I wrote the signs, but I didn’t recognize them. And I had even dated. There was also one party in 9th grade I would like to have lived over.
However - I wound up with a great wife and great kids, and I think the odds of doing better are pretty small. I also went through a lot of life like a sleepwalker in a cartoon who wanders in a construction site, step off of beams 50 stories high and stepping on another one that just happened to be there. I’ve done a lot of stupid things which turned out great, and I don’t think I could stand the tension of doing it again. So, all in all, I’d pass.
I really love my wife and my closest friends. The path I have taken through life, with all of the good decisions, the clearly poor decisions, all lead to me being with the most gracious, elegant woman I have ever personally met. It is fortunate she is even with me, and sometimes I wonder when she will upgrade. I cannot imagine not being with my spouse. Same with my buddies.
With the knowledge I have now I need to look forward, rather than ‘what if I could go back and do it all over again.’
Maybe it should be stated, ‘Do you move forward through life and make the best decisions possible, using what you know now?’
Maybe one day - a single day - in high school just for the laughs. And maybe some tears, too, just to remind me that my ego was overinflated. Heh.
All the mistakes I’ve made have served me well because I’ve refused to allow them to defeat me. Took the lemons and made lemonade with the ones which were usable and I’ve been willing to throw the rotten ones away.
Being here now is good. (The hippies told me that. )
Oh, hell yes. I know the stock market, I know the World Series, I know what big mistakes I made…I’d start the middle of my junior year in high school, and work from there.
I’m STILL not the master of life. I’m sure if I relieved parts of my life it wouldn’t be with sage-like wisdom. It’d be the same stuff but with some other set of issues.
Anyway, I’m too excited about the future to dwell in the past.
Yes. And any other answer would be wrong. Thats like looking at a leaky faucet (which I do alot of nowadays) and saying, “Nah, I won’t fix that. It’ll get better.”
Anybody that says they have “No Regrets” are either stupid, full of shit or liars.
Relive part of my life, and it turns out…how? What **good **bits of my life do I miss out on because I changed something in the continuum?
It’s very tempting to go back and get a temporal do-over. But unless it improves the life and the all the memories I have right now, I don’t think it’s worth it.
I’d live my entire life over, from birth. But if I had to pick one period, it would be my college years. I had started out as an architecture major, then switched majors 4 times. I have always regretted not becoming an architect; I would have been a great one.
But I wouldn’t go back at all without a guarantee that I’d still meet my partner.
Not “no regrets.” I’m just not sure I could do a better job of it the second time around. Sure, I won’t make the same mistakes. But I’m pretty sure I’d just end up making different mistakes.
Instead of not having enough sex, maybe I’d end up with having sex with all kinds of losers and end up with a reputation and an STD. Instead of being a half-assed student, maybe I’d end up at Harvard and hate every moment of it. Maybe I’d major in something more marketable, find it hard, and drop out of school.
Why take that risk? Life is great for me at the moment. Sure, I’ve had some missteps in the past, but that was the past. I’ve got plenty of time to use whatever wisdom and insight I’ve picked up in the future.
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