Things you wished you would have done when you were younger.....

[Chef2]

Taken 2 weeks per year, get in the car and drive. Suitcase, golf clubs, and just go.
If I had it to do over again, the first year, I would have started west.....did Vegas and up the California coast.

 

[Huggy]

Gone to Europe...not drink so much....

 

[Moderator1]

Read more. Worked less. Been a better person.

 

[TrooperBari]

Taken more time out to be a kid instead of being in a race to grow up, and not live in fear of making mistakes.
Not closed myself off to other opportunities so soon -- I was locked in on newspapers as far back as junior high.
Not been too proud/embarrassed/stupid to ask for help when I needed it -- cost me five years of wandering around in a daze while trying to get myself together.
Learned to cook something other than ramen and toast.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

On the concrete side of life I wish I had learned to play a musical instrument. Didn't have the discipline.
On the more spiritual side, I wish I had learned much earlier that my actions affected others, both positively and negatively. I would have been way less thoughtless as a result.

 

[WriteThinking]

This is a tough one, just because perspective changes things. Usually, without benefit of experience/perspective, people genuinely do what they think best at the time. Now, we're looking back.

That said, I'm with Michael_Gee with regard to learning to play a musical instrument well. I always liked to sing, and, at one time, was active in the church choir, participated in some performances, and could draw general compliments for my voice. I also was pretty good at playing the piano by ear and my parents paid for piano lessons for me for a while. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't take advantage of them then, though, and although I can still play certain things, and can still read (basic) music, never practiced enough to become truly good at it. Now, I still give thought, sometimes, to starting to play/take lessons regularly again, on my own. But I don't know if it'll ever really happen at this point.

I also would have given more thought to my career choice, instead of just, pretty much, sticking with what happened to catch me first -- journalism -- during college. Nowadays, I'd advise high school and college-age people to pick a field that, of course, they're interested in and might like, but also that, generally speaking, pays well.

I'm not materialistic, at all, but there's no denying the benefits, in almost every respect, of having more money, and I'd say to make that a major consideration in your choice of career fields. You'll be able to set yourself up better, both for whatever your current life holds, and for the future, and to live much better and more comfortably in your retirement and during your elder years if you have more money. I look back now, and, because I've always been good with my money, I often think if I'd made even, say, $50,000 a year for any length of time at all during my prime working years, I'd probably be close to wealthy and able to do pretty much whatever I might want now and in the future, as opposed to having to save constantly, and pick and choose what I'm going to do when. The opportunities that money can provide are practically limitless, and you can still be smart and good with money when you have it. Especially if you have it. (The stories of lottery winners who end up broke and miserable drive me crazy for the idiots that they must be to lose/blow it all. It's just inconceivable to me).

 

[KJIM]

Invested wisely. Learned another language. Stood up for that kid in class who got picked on.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Gotten laid more.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

Gone into anything other than journalism.

 

[UPChip]

I wish I had been a little more 'socially aggressive' in high school and college than I was. I was raised with a really strong "good kid" ethos and it paid off pretty well in terms of college, but I'm 35 now, and I feel like there are a lot of life experiences I sacrificed by playing it so straight, and it's left me feeling 10-15 years off the proverbial pace.

 

[outofplace]

Gotten laid more.

I wouldn't put it exactly that way, but there were opportunities I wish I had pursued more effectively. Let's just say there were times when it would have been appropriate to stop trying to be the good guy because that's not what she wanted in that moment. I wish I had known that 25 years ago.

 

[Chef2]

I was a very good drummer when I was in Jr high/High school. Did everything by ear. When I was in 5th grade, and music teacher put a sheet of music in front of me, I just looked at him and said "I don't know how to do that."
Sometimes I wish I would have done more with that.

 

[canucklehead]

This list could easily take all day to compile but a couple of things for sure:
1. been less of a little prick to my mom when a teen. Having kids now I know how hard it is to raise kids especially when they don't cooperate;
2. been less self-absorbed.

 

[Tarheel316]

Lifted weights when I was in high school. Never got a chance to play sports because I was too skinny, not strong enough. I get asked occasionally if I played football at UNC. No, I explain, I weighed about 150 back then, not the 215 I weigh now.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I had little self-discipline in high school. I wish I had been disciplined enough to have been a good student and a better athlete. I decided to work harder in college and my GPA has a half a point better and I graduated with honors. My not doing much in high school still closed some doors to me I wish I had left open.

 

[outofplace]

This list could easily take all day to compile but a couple of things for sure:
1. been less of a little prick to my mom when a teen. Having kids now I know how hard it is to raise kids especially when they don't cooperate;
2. been less self-absorbed.

I think being self-absorbed is fairly common with teenagers and younger. I wish I had asked more questions about my family history when my parents and grandparents were alive. We've been going through some old photos lately and it reminded me just how little I know about previous generations of my family.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

It would have been nice to realize a bit sooner that drinking is a poor substitute for actually feeling and dealing with stuff.

 

[Huggy]

I had little self-discipline in high school. I wish I had been disciplined enough to have been a good student and a better athlete. I decided to work harder in college and my GPA has a half a point better and I graduated with honors. My not doing much in high school closed some doors to me I wish I had left open.

Spot on, this. I was a terrible student - if I had a buck for every time I was told I could accomplish so much more if only I applied myself - and I knew college or university would have been a complete waste of time so I went to work in various low-paying laboring jobs after that. Lost my job in 1991, spent a year fruitlessly looking for one and ended up going to college at 27. I busted my ass - applying myself! - studying and graduated with honours.

Things have worked out pretty well but I occasionally wonder what would have happened of I had been more dedicated as a teenager.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Spot on, this. I was a terrible student - if I had a buck for every time I was told I could accomplish so much more if only I applied myself - and I knew college or university would have been a complete waste of time so I went to work in various low-paying laboring jobs after that. Lost my job in 1991, spent a year fruitlessly looking for one and ended up going to college at 27. I busted my ass - applying myself! - studying and graduated with honours.

Things have worked out pretty well but I occasionally wonder what would have happened of I had been more dedicated as a teenager.

I just thought of another mistake I made that I saved my son from making. After busting my ass in college and making honor roll I got cocky and took my grad school exams with no preparation. It turns out the GMAT quantitative questions consisted of a lot of geometry, which I had paid little attention to in the ninth grade. I bombed it. I think if I had studied for my graduate admission exam I would have done much better and gotten into a better grad school.

So when my son was a junior in high school and had a 4+ GPA I dragged him to Stanley Kaplan for SAT prep. Basically they made him take the SAT exam seven times. His scores went up 50 points an exam and he went from 1,650 to 2,000 on his SAT and he did get into a better school. I don't how much getting into a better school helped but he is 26, never had a problem finding jobs and and is kicking ass. I think the $700 and the emotional effort I made in dragging him to the classes was well worth it. Your college boards are about as important as your grades and it is dumb to kill yourself for a higher GPA for four years and them give it back with a sub par board score.

 

[qtlaw]

I wish I had been a little more 'socially aggressive' in high school and college than I was. I was raised with a really strong "good kid" ethos and it paid off pretty well in terms of college, but I'm 35 now, and I feel like there are a lot of life experiences I sacrificed by playing it so straight, and it's left me feeling 10-15 years off the proverbial pace.

Hey chin up; you're only 35, there's a whole lot of life out there in front of you. My buddy had a family and still went back to Nursing school at 40 and found his true calling.

Your background is a tremendous selling point with others if you just use it; be proud of it. That doesn't mean you can't do those things now. (Still I'd encourage you to make good life choices without endangering yourself or others; say don't do crank or heroin.)