If you could start again

[Daniel Ingalls]

If I could go back fifty years, I would of changed History. Would of done some terminal things to Hillary Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Pelosi, and a few others that would of made a significant changes in the world today.

[micmichd]

Not so sure.

I've learnt a lot from my mistakes, I would be more stupid now without them.

[EmptyHead]

I would have went to Wild Country Bar before it closed.

[Crazy chef 1]

pretty good to see for a change...most are content with their life...

[frank0424]

There are MANY things I wish I'd done differently or not at all.

However I try to tell myself that there is not a right or wrong road.

Instead, each road has different consequences.

This way of thinking helps you not to have regrets.

Edited March 28, 2015 by frank0424

[GOLDBUGGY]

Save all the money I could and then start buying Microsoft when it became a Penny Stock a few years later. Then just keep buying for another 10 years.

Chase Sports more than Girls. Do you know what a Professional Baseball and Hockey Player make these days?

[MaeJoMTB]

I wouldn't have got married in the UK.

I'd be rich!

[Docno]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

[overherebc]

Good judgements today come from experience and experience comes from bad judgements in the past

[elgordo38]

Rewrting the last 50 years would take more than a few lines !

and remember hindsight is perfect vision, the trials and tribulations that life's path takes us through also forms the person/character we have become.

Whilst there are many things I would like to "do over" or paths that in hindsight I shouldnt have taken, I did take them, and they ultimately brought me to where I am now, and I consider myself fortunate to have reached this point in my life and have achieved what I now have and the lifestyle I have.

No complaints in the end result. Often its not the destination, but the journey you took to get there.

charlieH.... Many times I don't agree with you but this time you are right on the money, well said !

Ditto a lot of times I don't agree with Charlie H either but his comment about sums it up. Then I would not want to be a moderator either. Also if I was starting at 10 again I would want it to be the year 1948 not 2015. I would have a vasectomy at age 16. Erase my last 3 wives from my memory and go to Thailand and get as many visa's as possible to stay as long as possible before moving on. Now with enough smarts you can make a living via a computer in 1948 there was no such thing. Oh there goes the alarm clock time to move out of this dream and back to reality and retirement. Let the world be someone else's stage. There are times when I fear for my grandchildren and their childrens future.

[Patmalone]

I would have looked after my teeth better and slipped,slop slap a bit more.

[how241]

Rewrting the last 50 years would take more than a few lines !

and remember hindsight is perfect vision, the trials and tribulations that life's path takes us through also forms the person/character we have become.

Whilst there are many things I would like to "do over" or paths that in hindsight I shouldnt have taken, I did take them, and they ultimately brought me to where I am now, and I consider myself fortunate to have reached this point in my life and have achieved what I now have and the lifestyle I have.

No complaints in the end result. Often its not the destination, but the journey you took to get there.

+1...Excellent !!!

[thejcb]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

[Thaddeus]

I don't think I would like to go back that far (swap one mistake for a potentially different one) six years, maybe.

[Moonlover]

As the crazy chef correctly points out, it is all hypothetical. I have, for quite some time now believed that there is no such thing, in life, as a right or wrong decision. You make your choice and live with the consequences.

But I'll go along with the game and make the following two observations.

I should not have had children. I am far too selfish

I should have relied far less on the self serving opinions of others and followed my own gut feelings.

That's it, confessions over.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Moonlover

[khunPer]

In the unbearably bright lights of hindsight there will always be something – or lots of things – you wish you had done different.

But we “normal” folks are not born – or reborn – with a full life’s memory, or several past lives, and as being clairvoyance is still not that clear a sight into future, that you can predict all outcome of any actions (still wait for an App to be available for Android), it may probably rather be like this:

That’s how I did it, maybe it could have done better or different, but I did it the best I could at that time; and if I did something wrong or made some people sad, I sincerely apologize...

[joboss]

An excellent contender, and so early in the year, for the most ridiculous 2015 TV post.

How do you lot make this stuff up, where does it come from ?

Do you dream these stupid ideas and then convert them into TV posts,

"if you can go back, what would you do differently" ?..... Ludicrous..... and yet people actually respond to it as if it were a perfectly normal subject.

It is a perfectly normal subject. Probably discussed at One Million plus get-togethers, around the world, daily.

May I suggest that you change your soiled nappy more frequently, at least before it dries out and becomes hard and scratchy.

[elviajero]

I wouldn't change a thing. My good and bad decisions have given me three fantastic children and an amazing wife. If I achieve nothing else in my life I consider that success enough.

My only regret is the death of my father when I was twenty two. He was a wonderful man and my best mate. If I could turn back the clock and prevent that I'd do it in a heart beat.

[JMR]

I have made thousands of very poor choices over the past 30 years and I regret none.

[wwest5829]

Already have the order in, next life I am coming back as a tall, good liooking healthy, wealthy man! Other than that, had a good childhood and Walker says, since I earned my Eagle Scout, I am qualified to be a Commander-in-Chief. I think, sadly rather than spending my working life teaching (yes a worthy way to use one's life's breath), I would do something with a fairer renumeration. That might make for greater number of choices but all in all, well, I am a pretty happy camper. Guess retiring to Thailand does help make that attitude possible since I can afford to live better here than in my home country.

[smotherb]

Join the Army, put in 30 years. Retire off the pension abroad.

Gee, that took a lot of imagination. I'd rather marry a rich woman, make her life miserable, then divorce her and get alimony.

[Huggybearman]

Used 2 Trojans, the first one broke.

Don't you just hate that? Withdrawing and finding a broken, shrivelled Trojan on the end of your whotsit! Especially if you weren't using one to begin with!

[smotherb]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

Docno, it's too easy in the military, you don't have to be in harm's way if you think it through. Just get into an administrative specialty, work in an a/c office for 30 years, do what you're told; then retire at 48 and you still get to tell war stories. Just listen to all the barstool commandos.

[smotherb]

I'm curious about the 3 people here who said they would either have joined the armed forces or stay on longer. What's the thinking behind that? Is it the pension or the 'hero culture' ("thank-you for your service") that has evolved in the US? The interesting thing about counterfactuals like this is that they involve an asymmetry of information: we know what has actually happened in our past, but we can only guess at how things may have been different had we made different choices in our life. Full knowledge vs guesswork (i.e., zero knowledge). So those of you who think joining the armed forces may have been a good idea may not consider the possibility that you could have died on your first day of duty in Afghanistan (or Grenada). In my own life, I look at my lousy first marriage but don't regret it because it led me to place (metaphorically) where I'm very happy... if that marriage hadn't happened, I cannot guess what my life would look like now.

No need to be in harm's way in the military, just get into an administrative specialty, work in an a/c office for 30 years, and do what you're told. You can retire at 48 and still tell war stories--just listen to all the barstool commandos.

[tifino]

put every spare $ and C into Super from the moment my balls were low enough to work

[Ayutthaya11]

Okay, it's obvious someone on here is looking for a dumbass answer opposed to my realist one.

Knowing what I know now if I could go back and start over I would place a football bet on every major competition up until the year 2015. Then I'd be too busy spending my money rather than posting this.

[WhamBam]

from 10 years old? Half a century ago.

Many things I would change with hindsight. But, I have seen so much. Been to so many places that I might not have done using hindsight.

At the end of the day, I am generally happy with my lot.

[elviajero]

whoops! Mod please delete.

Edited March 28, 2015 by elviajero

[ggt]

"If I could start again"...I would not...waste money in Thailand...

[Surasak]

If I knew at ten what I know now, it's for sure I would not be writing this now. That said, I have nothing to complain about. I have had up's and down's like everyone else.but as to making a change along the way? I would like to have been able to move to Thailand many years earlier than I did. Here's hoping I have many more years to spend here.