I think I’m way too uptight, sort of. My brain will consider all manner of zany, off-color, off-the-wall antics, but my superego has an ironclad half-nelson on my id. I need to break the hold so that I’d actually be more than half-capable of socializing.
I need to be more diligent about updating my website, too. I let it fester for shameful lengths of time.
So, what would other folks change about themselves?
Dude, my id is my superego’s little bitch. I feel your pain. I wish I could live a little, too. Part of me would love to have a reckless, unplanned, wild weekend. It’ll never happen, though.
I wish I were a little more introverted. I sometimes process my thoughts verbally, and I tend to say things aloud before I’ve fully thought them through.
I’d stop with the massively pessimistic thoughts. Actually, I enjoy the little scenarios I play out in my head. Also, when something bad does happen, it’s never as bad as I’d imagined, so little hurts don’t hurt as much.
I would stop being a damn perfectionist. Things do not have to be perfect all the time. The house does not have to be perfectly clean, it can have a lived in look. The dinner servings do not have to look like Emeril prepared them to be photographed.
I drive myself crazy trying to organize everything into perfection.
I think I will go mess up the livingroom now. No wait! That means I would have to straighten it up!
The requisite eating better/exercising more, of course.
Also, I would be waaaay more patient with life’s unexpected annoyances. I’m really good at being patient when I expect to have to be: with children, with the service at some restaurants, on lines at the amusement park, sitting in traffic, waiting at the DMV, etc. I’m quite mellow and pleasant in those situations, actually. But give me a machine that suddenly stops working for no apparent reason, unexpected trouble finding a parking spot, a concept I don’t grasp as quickly as I think I should, or a 35-year-old co-worker who is acting like a child, and I’m not so mellow. I also have very little patience with the willfully ignorant, the intolerant, the rude, the exceedingly insecure/needy, and a few other “types.”
Mostly, I’d be more patient with my Mom. She drives me up a freaking wall (and so does her house; she’s a bit of a pack rat). I think I know why she bugs me so much, but I wish I could learn to just humour her and appreciate having a Mom who is mostly a good person and who genuinely cares about me. For right now, though, I’m really glad that we don’t live in the same state.
(Geez, I’m a pain in the ass. )
So yeah, more patience would probably be the first thing I’d ask the genie for.
Live with me for a week or two. You’ll probably go crazy, but in the end you won’t care about being a slob. I actually would work on my organizational skills to be more neat. I used to be reasonable about it, but now everything just piles up on me till I manage to clear enough out.
I let my id rule the day a lot of times, but then I also let my superego do some moderation every now and then.
I’d stop smoking, and I’d make myself taller. I’d like to be about 3 inches taller, I think.
Trust me. You would break before I did. I would end up keeping things clean before you could pile, and would then have a “chat” with you. If the chat didn’t work, you would find some other place to live. I am that anal about a clean house.
The hell with exercising and eating better. If I could change anything about myself, it would be to give myself one of those metabolisms where I could eat foie gras, fettucine alfredo, and cheesecake 3 times a day and still be thin and healthy without exercise.
[ul]
[li] Become more at ease in social situations and not be such an introvert; not be afraid to speak my mind, not care that other people may disagree with me and my opinions and judge me on this basis and possibly even dislike me.[/li][li] Bring my temper under control. I am very impatient by nature, so I tend to lose my cool with minor problems that most people can just brush off.[/li][li] Become a more patient and less aggressive driver.[/li][li] Put an end to the procrastination. I have a never-ending list of projects that have been put off time and time again. When I do go back to such projects I tend to drop them again at the first sign of difficulty.[/li][li] Not be such a pessimist and try to have a more positive outlook on some things.[/li][li] Become more tidy and oganized.[/li][li] Eat better, exercise more.[/li][li] Go to bed earlier and get more sleep.[/li][li] Get over my dating inhibitions, put past relationship failures behind me and get out there and have some fun.[/li][/ul]
Like others have said, get in shape. But there is more to it than just that-
There lies a gulf in my mind between what I want and what I am willing to do to get it. In other words, I’m almost never motivated to work to achieve what I want, and it is very frustrating. I had always thought that the more badly you want something, the harder you work at it, but not everyone (myself included) can get that motivational ‘tunnel vision’ to concentrate on one and one thing only in order to acheive their goals.
Another thing I would change is being more motivated in school. No matter how much I may be enjoying classes, it is a herculean effort to get myself to study, or do anything outside of the class. Its like my brain is only running when I’m in class, and when I’m done, I want to concentrate on other things, like going to work, or sleeping
I’d figure out what I want to do with my life and try to do it, instead of being unemployed and miserable all the time, applying to dozens of jobs in a field that I hate and not getting any positive results. Even if that meant going back to school for another degree beyond my J.D., I should probably do it.
I’d despise myself less, and stop wishing before bed every night that maybe I wouldn’t wake up. (I AM NOT SUICIDAL, I SWEAR. JUST DEPRESSED AND SELF-LOATHING. THERE IS A MAJOR DIFFERENCE.)