You can go back and change ONE decision in your life

[x-g.o.p.er]

What is it?

Marry someone? Divorce someone? Tell someone yes? No?

For me, I had an opportunity to play division III college football. I wasn't a very good quarterback in high school, but this coach thought I was. They don't offer scholarships at D-III, but I had all the financial arrangements worked out through grants and loans, and if I had one thing to do over again, that would be it.

But then again, if I go play college football, I don't enlist in the Sir Forc, don't get stationed where my future wife was, and don't marry her.

But I firmly believe that had I gone and played college ball, I still would have met her. Somehow.

[Yavin4]

1. Not Going To Graduate Business School

I went to a horrible school, and it ruined 10 years of my life.

[calico1]

51. I would not have allowed my parents and

relatives to strong arm and pressure me into majoring in business. I would have become a vet like I had wanted to and wish I had become.

[Ariana Celeste]

2. not a damned thing.

:)

I've learned a little bit from everything I've been through, and I wouldn't be me without all of the events in my life. :hi:

[Gold Metal Flake]

3. Paper or plastic.

I was way on the wrong side of THAT one!

[Deja Q]

4. Don't ask.

[EstimatedProphet]

5. Just one?

OK, marry my first wife. She was nasty.

[madeline_con]

6. Just ONE? n/t

[Robb]

7. Oddly enough, nothing.

I think although the road SUCKED, everything I have now depended upon the tiny little fuckups that together, make up my life. :D

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Easy

I wouldn't have accepted a job in this godforsaken town and moved here almost eight years ago. Life was pretty good before, and it's gone downhill ever since.

[Kathryn STone]

30. where do you live?

[Oeditpus Rex]

34. It's not important

There're godforsaken hellholes everywhere.

[LostInAnomie]

9. Oooo... That is a tricky question.

I can think of a bunch of things that I would have probably done differently but the natural extension of changing them would be to alter my present life drastically.

Here is a list though:
1. I would have kissed my first girlfriend (I was too shy).
2. I would have asked my best girl/friend to prom like we planned and fell in love (cause I had a huge crush on her).
3. I would have told my boss at my first job to fuck off and then walked out instead of putting up with his shit.
4. I would have told Abby how I felt about her before she started dating my friend.
5. I would have worked a lot harder my first two years of college (they were a huge drag on my GPA).
6. I would have broken up with my college girlfriend after 1.5 years instead of dragging it out for 3.
7. I would have spent a lot more time with my friends in college instead of wasting my time with my ex-girlfriend.
8. I would have drank a lot more in college.
9. I would have double checked the gate latch so my puppy wouldn't have went into the road and been hit.
10. I wouldn't have checked my mirror at the same time that car stopped short in front of me.

[gristy]

26. yeah, I rear ended someone after I had glanced in my mirror too

I remember being taught in driver's ed to always be checking my mirrors. Bad advice! I always keep my eyes looking forward now. If someone's tailing me, I'd rather not even know.

[Redstone]

10. I'd have listened when they told me: "Don't ride the skid."

Redstone

[GoddessOfGuinness]

35. ...

:hug:

How was Mrs R's birthday?

[xmas74]

11. I've made mistakes in my past

but there is no way I'd change it. I'm afraid that all it would take is one small change and my little girl wouldn't be here w/ me today. I can't do it.

[BlueIris]

16. Same here.

I guess.

I think of the one thing I'd change--meeting the ex. Yeah, I might still have my health, mental health and more of my career ambitions intact, but, but--I might not have been in a position to discover DU. Think up my novel. Other essential things.

[xmas74]

17. I hate the ex

but if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have my daughter. I can't even change meeting him.

[bigwillq]

12. How I "came out"

to my parents. I didn't exactly do it in the most appropriate fashion but then again, there's no best way to do that, imo.

[PassingFair]

13. Dropping out of college...

Still regret it, but in hindsight, can see exactly why I did it.
Shitty economy, HAD to get a full-time job, bad relationship.

My kids BETTER stay in school, even if I have to work nights
at McDonald's to pay for it.

[mdmc]

57. ugh, I forgot about that regret...

add it to my list...

[hfojvt]

14. being born

turns out it was a hugh mistake, but I was too young to know better. Legend says I tried to delay it as long as possible, being two weeks late and over 10 pounds.

[flvegan]

15. Not bought that dirt bike. Helped cost my best friend his life.

My mom wouldn't let me have a dirt bike. Got one anyway (paper route). Kept it at my friend D's house. He got one from his folks. He launched over a hill that had no landing. He went down the side of an embankment, and into a busy street. He was hit by a van. He died right then and there. I was twelve or thirteen.

[Elidor]

18. Finish college

Fortunately, this is one I CAN change, though no school in this area offers a degree in my field, and most online degrees seem to be ripoffs.

[LeftyMom]

19. I would be nicer to my sister as a child

I was positively abusive to her when we were small. If I could change anything, that would be it.

[momophile]

41. Big sis, is that you?

Oh... it's not. It's someone else's sister... My big sis was pretty mean sometimes, but I still love her.

[LeftyMom]

42. Mine still loves me too

I'd understand if she hated me after the way I treated her but we're actually good friends now. :shrug:

[Missy Vixen]

20. I have a list

at the same time, the things I screwed up on are now the biggest lessons I learned.

Here's to learning from my mistakes. :toast:

Julie

[NNadir]

21. The last time I saw my mother well, I was mean to her.

I was just being a snotty kid.

I was home for a visit, and then I went off to California, not realizing that she would shortly contract a fatal brain tumor that would ruin her fabulous mind before I could speak to her again. Eventually, after months of child-like behavior, convulsions, pain and confusion she fell into a coma and died.

If I had one thing to do over, I would spend that last day together when she was well telling her how much I loved her and thanking for all she did for me and remarking on her kindness, her patience, her high ethics, her good will, her decency and her profound love. It was 30 years ago, and it still hurts that I never told her how much I loved her.

[faithnotgreed]

36. may i send a hug your way

a very loving and mature response nnadir

much peace and love to you....

[NNadir]

45. Thank you. n/t.

[Giant Robot]

22. I have many I think about

Mainly marrying my first wife and her leaving me with a boatload of debt to handle.
Or letting that one special girlfriend get away.
Or fucking around instead of studying in my undergrad.
But since the OP said one thing, I would spend every possible minute with my sainted father before he passed away. None of my other screw ups compares with missing him and wishing I could have just a few more minutes to tell him how much he meant to me, all he taught me, how I forgive any trespasses, and how much I just loved him.

[Sacajawea]

23. I would not flee medical school after three weeks.

Felt I was in way over my head, that I didn't belong there, that they'd made a mistake in accepting me.

Really. Bad. Career. Move.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. NOT marry my first husband.

definitely.

I would have saved myself 13 years of feeling trapped in that relationship

Odd how a pretty good boyfriend and girlfriend can morph into a lousy married couple, isn't it?

My current spouse maintains that if I had left my ex earlier, I would most likely never have met HIM, so he is grateful that I put up with the ex as long as I did.

He has a point.

on a more trivial note, I would have joined the sorority my roommate was in; I might as well have since we lived with them and they gave me an honorary membership..every semester they told me all I had to do was sign up for rush and I was in but my mom was very dead set against it and I was afraid I might drop my grades etc. I wouldn't have dropped my grades and I would have had a great time..they were all great women!

[JudyM]

25. Would've taken that full scholarship to grad school in Hawaii instead of

going to Cleveland. Nothing against Cleveland, but that choice was waaay too pragmatic - just because the Cleve grad program was a lot better. I still haven't made it out to Hawaii.

[XOKCowboy]

27. No Regrets

Never look back. Only forward. In life there is no reverse gear.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. I can't change anything.....not ONE thing!

I've made some horrendous mistakes, had awful failures, fallen in love when I shouldn't have......

But all these adventures, and all the good things too, make me who and what I am.....

And I would NOT change anything about me for anything.....

My mistakes have cost me a lot of grief, and tears....but they are part of me...

I cannot put up any walls around these things....So every now and then these events come back and bite me...

I can't help it...

I take what I can from them, and go forward, hopefully a better, wiser, kinder and more loving person.

[dysfunctional press]

29. so many regrets to choose from...

and i was hoping to save them up to ponder in my declining years...

suffice it to say, my virginity would have been sacrificed much earlier(as if i really had any say over it in the first place).

[Shine]

31. I believe every life experience has taught me something worthwhile

so I am not big on having regrets, because they imply having made a "MISTAKE" or having done something "WRONG"

The truth is, we're all doing the best we can, in any given moment.

I believe I am exactly where I need to be and that all my past choices have brought me to this place in time.

It's all good. :thumbsup:

[progmom]

47. i think this is an incredibly healthy perspective

i totally agree

:thumbsup:

[Shine]

48. Cool, thanks, progmom.

Life's too short to beat ourselves up. Let's enjoy what we have. :loveya:

[fortyfeetunder]

32. Not get married

Leaving another trail of broken hearts....LOL

:popcorn:

[liberaltrucker]

33. Wouldn't have married my first wife

:argh:

[CanuckAmok]

37. gone to a good school when I had the chance.

I grew up poor, and my mom cleaned houses for a living. One of the elderly couples she worked for really liked me, and offered to pay my tuition at Ridley College, which is just about the best private elementary/high/prep school in Canada.

I was only nine, and I didn't like the prospect of changing schools (again), and being the only working-class kid at a very expensive school.

I declined their offer, and remained at an overcrowded, substandard public elementary school, where I did poorly.


Of course, if I knew then what I know now...............

[GoddessOfGuinness]

38. If I changed anything it'd screw up something good...

so I'd leave it alone, and accept as a gift the knowledge that comes from making mistakes.

[Digit]

39. I would not have sold my bungalow in North Arlington for $280K in 1997

It was a 7 minute walk to Metro and within 3 years of being paid off.
It kills me knowing it is worth a million bucks now.
Just KILLS me.
...and here I sit in bumfuck NC surrounded by Republican imbeciles with a flat housing market and can't even afford to return home.

[Wapsie B]

40. Another not getting married vote here.

But we've got to play with the hand we've got now. Such is life.

[XemaSab]

43. When I met Tristan

I would have RUN AWAY. :(

[Aristus]

44. I wish I could have chosen to go into Medicine ten years earlier.

Best career change I ever made, but it's tough starting over at 37.

[pointblank]

46. I should have kept playing sports

in high school instead of quitting after sophomore year to party excessively and should have gone straight to a four year college right away instead of fucking around at a community college for three years because of my idiot girlfriend at the time.

However, with that said I am very happy where I ended up!

[Ramsey]

49. Summer of 1987

I had a chance to go to Australia and the South Seas on tour with my Glee Club.

Instead I stayed at school all summer working in the molecular biology lab, making a small stipend.

I made the decision for financial reasons and justified it my convincing myself that I'd have a good experience doing research that summer.

But my friends all had such a great time on the tour and still talk about it to this day, that I always regret not going.

It taught me never to let opportunities pass just over money, but to find a way to make things happen.

[Fenris]

50. Not taking that German scholarship I was offered.

[LaraMN]

52. Not buying the stupid damn Dodge Neon.

Everything in else in my life, good or bad, I needed.

[liontamer]

53. I would have gone to buenos aires the summer after i finished college

The change would have been a much needed shock to my system.

[In_The_Wind]

54. Yes ~ There is a gentleman named Philip Younger ...

He ask me to look him up 20 years after our break-up in 1979. I haven't done that yet.

[riderinthestorm]

55. Stayed in Australia

I was asked to marry my Qantas pilot SO but still believed in "true love" back then so I turned him down. I had lived with him for a year in Sydney and liked him well enough but I just didn't have any sparks flying and I honestly thought that was a "must have" thang for a marriage.

In retrospect I should have married him, gotten the Aussie dual citizenship and stuck around over there. Great friendships can evolve into love during marriage and I believe we would have been good together in the long haul.

Alas.

[mdmc]

56. oh, I am plagued by regrets

How I treated my family when I was younger (I would have been nicer).
Career moves (damn, I have not made a single good career move since 1996).
Love (I was so lucky to get someone like her, how could I have fucked it up?).
and politics (I should have run last year instead of banking on a con-dem to win).