Leave school. Get a motorcycle. Be a ski patroller in the winter, and a dive instructor in the summer. Rock climb. Hitchhike through Europe. Learn to play the guitar, the piano, and the saxophone. Protest globalization. Live on a commune. Learn to juggle.
Always be a bit more poor than you’d really like to be, but
Always be the guy everyone likes so much they buy your beer for you.
brilliant. hehe
I second saving money and a variety of sexual encounters. Hell, let me go one step further: Learn the art of picking up women. That’s a skill you’ll never regret learning.
Let’s see, what do I regret . . . I regret never taking the time to learn math and science. I don’t mean I never got good enough to pass a class or a standardized test. I mean I never explored either more deeply on their philosophical and historical levels. The power of logical thought that comes with mastering higher math and a respect for testing facts and concepts empirically will serve you very well later in life, even if you’re a bricklayer.
Don’t try too hard to fit into a social norm. You are halfway toward discovering any true passions you might have once you learn not to try to please everyone around you.
Learn to listen to that inner voice that’s always nagging you to break out and try something fun. If you get a crazy idea into your head, and it doesn’t look as if it might actually kill you, go for it. Do it while you’re young. To this day, I regret not taking a year off from college to be an EMT in the Bronx. It might not always be the right thing to do, and you might get hurt, but hell, at least you’ll live. Hell, I’ve always said that half of knowing what you want to do involves knowing what you don’t want to do. Trust your intuition, even if it gets you knocked around once in a while.
I’m not your priest, and I’m not your mother, but fucking leave the drugs alone!! Don’t drink too much, either.
To sum up, I regret things I’ve done in life, but I don’t regret them half as much as the things I haven’t done.