Beaverstate

Oh hell yes. I would change so many decisions back in my early and mid 20's starting with my Ex and being somewhat successful in private business for 19 years, which turn out to be somewhat wasted years.

ian-mstm

I think many of us would do things differently if a do over was possible... but that suggests that we have the knowledge and wisdom accumulated over time that we can apply to those early decisions. Without that advanced knowledge, we'd likely make the same decisions over again.

So - yeah, I would have done my doctorate sooner and I wouldn't have married my first wife. However, that also means I likely wouldn't have met my current wife and ended up in the good and satisfying place that I'm at today.

Ian

Dorothy

It's probably only the last 10 years or so that I would do over.

Rete

I wouldn't change much, if anything, in my past life. I loved my ex-husband and he did give me two lovely daughters. I loved my fiancé who died a month before we were to be married. I love my now husband.

Everything that has occurred in my life has been instrumental in helping me grow and learn to be a less self centered individual and a more compassionate and caring adult.

I would only change the path I took one morning when exiting the train at Grand Central in NYC. But even that has given me challenges that I have risen to accept and cope with and live successfully.

SultanOfSwing

Yes and no. I'd love to have actually finished my degree, or have kept myself in better shape in the important years so I wasn't such a fat **** now. I wish I had realised I wanted to be a pilot when I was 15 and not 30, so I could have joined the RAF or something when the time was right.

But then again, had I not made all the decisions I did make, I wouldn't have bet my wife and wouldn't have my children, etc. So I think I'd rather just be rich now, instead of having a do-over

mrken30

If we go way back to the beginning, I think I would have chosen different parents. Everything in life is a learning experience. Sometimes I wish we had our kids earlier in life, but there are pros and cons to when to have children.

scrubbedexpat091

Ideally I would have never married the first wife, never moved to Canada, and kept on the path I was on in California that likely would have resulted in a better overall life.

But then I would not have met my current wife, so my life would be completely different, and impossible to know which would have been better.

Canada has never worked out for me, so it's one decision I often wish I could do over.

Likely would have had kids if I had stayed in the US, but who knows.

johnwoo

I'm pretty much satisfied the way things turned out, a few things I once regretted don't seem such a big deal anymore. Some thing that seemed like a bad decision at the time turned out for the better.

Who knows if we had taken a different path how things would have turn out.

BenK91

I think if I could go back to the start of secondary school again I'd like to. I pissed around at school too much and didn't get the grades I could've achieved etc. I've since had to go the long way around to get to where I am now but I suppose it's been good experience and I've learnt some pretty valuable things.

I do sometimes question whether living in the US is what I want, but at the end of the day I'm with my wife and that's the most important thing.

Definitely many things I regret though.

Gordon Barlow

It only takes the very smallest thing, to change one's life, especially in our younger days. I once did a thread on How we met our Wives - or something like that - and one minute earlier or later and maybe it wouldn't have happened. Of course sometimes it's a very large thing. If we'd never left home, our lives would have been very different! Probably...

lansbury

So you won the bet then?

SultanOfSwing

I don't know how I managed to not notice that. Oh well, too late to edit it now.

lansbury

I regret leaving the RAF when I did, just not at the time. Often wonder what might have happened if I had stayed and made a long term career of it.

KK85

Very much this, for me, too.

I'm only 32, but I'm learning that the horrible, big stuff isn't always that big or horrible when I look back. I made some pretty reckless decisions in my younger years, and had some opportunities taken from me due to ill health, but I'm now making up for lost time. I left school at 14 with no qualifications, and flailed my way through dead-end jobs thereafter, but this year I graduated from university with 1st class honours and two academic awards. I've had a horrible boyfriend or two (and some wonderful ones) but am now married to a kind, funny, intelligent, wonderful man. I was treated for anxiety and depression for fourteen years and truly believed I would never be 'better', and that was arguably my toughest challenge, but I've been happy and healthy for several years and I honestly wouldn't change or erase any of the nasty ones. They taught me a lot.

I try to find a silver lining or at least a lesson in everything, especially the challenges. I'm a more patient, empathetic and level-headed person because of them. Regrets are suffocating! It's nice to live without them, if you can, I reckon.

KK85

(Perhaps I'd eat a little less pizza during my mid-twenties.)