If You Could Go Back To 17, What Would You Do Different?

[ssfiretruck]

There is a lot I would like to change and a lot I would have done. But it's the bad and the good we go thought in life that make us who we are. Like someone else said the grass is always greener on the other side but that's a whole other lawn to cut.

 

[Charles1959]

I would have stopped chasing her and pursued all of the other top notch girls that my blinders caused me to overlook. I would have just left her and never looked back.

You dated her too, huh?

 

[Charles1959]

Seriously, The list of crap I would change is much longer than the one of stuff I wouldn't change. But hindsight is always 20/20, ain't it boys?
Play the hand your dealt and get on with it.
C.

 

[XDguy]

I have done my best to stop looking back and keep looking forward. Trying to change what cannot be changed has only me to trouble.

 

[headspace]

I would have listened to my boss and invested everything I could in Microsoft and Mac when they split in stead of just buying gold. That and got a vasectomy.

 

[JWG223]

.....in your life. I would have taken a different trade route. Maybe furthered my education, saved money.

First...When I was 18 I wouldn't have traded my 1995 Trans Am for a 1988 GT and put a crate motor, etc. in it. It still sucked.
Second...I would have asked a girl out that I broke up with when I was 19. She turned out to be a great girl and I think it could have gone somewhere, we just didn't ask each other back out until she moved out of state, and by then it was too little too late.
Third...I would have not gotten my 4-year degree, but gotten a 2-year instead. Same pay, same responsibilities, less time, money, and initials.
Fourth...I would have held off on a 2011 Z06 and bought a C7 loaded out with a lot more money down, and also some land around the same time. I would have already moved as of this January.

That takes us to present time. I really don't have many serious regrets at all, and am very happy with how I have done by and large. No real screw-ups, and no real HUGE opportunities missed, and no real way to know how that girl and I would have turned out. Could have been happy as hell, or in a marriage from hell, so I'll call that one neutral, but I'd be curious to have taken that path.

 

[Mojo Rider]

Worn a condom

 

[CEHollier]

Gone pre-med school at 18. Med school at 22. I had the grades but screwed around a while. Went back at 26 and got a degree in physical therapy. Would love to be a surgeon.

 

[Jester]

But it's the bad and the good we go thought in life that make us who we are.

In hindsight, it's the things that hurt the worst that ultimately taught me the most.

Maybe, I'd have spent more time trying to learn from OTHER people's mistakes, as opposed to just my own.

 

[ZombieHuntr]

Worn a condom

This!

I prolly woudve went marine corps instead of navy, tried to make better financial decisions, I wouldn't have gotten into street racing and assaulting Leo's to get away when they bust up the racing in new Orleans east. If I could change that, id prolly own my house instead of rent, not have 2 kids, and I have my drivers license and a better reputation with the law.
( I can still legally buy firearms, pass background checks, etc amazingly.... but those are my regrets....)

 

[JWG223]

Looks like I see a trend:

Been better with money.
Been better with education.
Prevented an untimely child.

 

[tbone]

Well, I probably wouldn't be here today because I would have insisted that the Marines send me to Vietnam like I joined to do instead of sending me to Millington, Tennessee to be trained in aviation electronics (none of which I remember now). Yeah, I know, I am crazy. I probably would have been killed.

 

[Paintball]

Not much other than buy a lot of shares in Microsoft, Dell, EMC, and then sell most at their peak in the late 90's. Oh, and buy more guns they seem to have a good return on investment lately.

 

[JBE]

Enlisted...if I have one major regret it's that I didn't serve

That and the fact I should have finished college and pursued a career in coaching

 

[Phill]

enlisted...if i have one major regret it's that i didn't serve

THIS
I'm doing great now, but screwed off too much in my 20's.

 

[deuxlatch]

I should have gone to college BEFORE enlisting.
I should have taken my dad's advice and stayed single throughout my enlistment.
I should have taken college courses while at sea.
I should have invested the money I wasted in Hong Kong.
I should have asked for help before I lifted the front end of that missile off the skid while in heavy seas. (back problems)
I should have punched that Ensign square in the mouth for what he said to me.
I should have visited the Arizona Memorial while we were in Pearl.

With all that said, I DO NOT REGRET any of it because those are the kinds of things that define me as the man I am today.

I plan to go back and visit the Arizona.

 

[cajun_64]

Wouldn't change a thing.
It got me to where I am and made me what I am today. No Regrets

 

[Emperor]

Wouldn't change a thing.
It got me to where I am and made me what I am today. No Regrets

I'm kinda down with this^, but I know if I would have never done drugs, I could move inanimate objects with just my mind today!

 

[44spl]

I would have prepared to be a politician, they seem to do pretty well.

 

[Mojo Rider]

Well let me think about this for a minute.....when I was 17, that would be in the early 80's. Knowing what I know now, I would take a ride up to Columbia University and have a long talk with a student there named Barry Obama.