If we could, we'd grow old trying to rewrite our teen years?

[jrgp]

I have a s**t load of regrets about my high school past. I've wasted so many opportunities to have fun and be sociable. Let me explain why:
 - I'm a child of divorce
 - During middle/elementary/before that school I was made fun of every f**king day, which ruined my confidence

Right now I'm around 75% done with reading Stephen King's extended version of The Stand. At one point someone, I believe Glen Bateman, mentions that if humans were given (either by god or whoever else) the power to go back in time to edit our past, most of us would grow old trying to rewrite our teen years.

Does anyone agree with that claim? Are those years that important to us? As I mentioned, I'd go back in a heartbeat and redo almost everything. Would you?

[Gizd]

Being immature is only fun if you're a kid who doesn't give a s*** about anything.

[Fryer]

I think that even though very much of my life hasn't exaclty been "perfect" it has still contributed to my total life experience. The things I regret have thought me about what to not do in certain situations and without that knowledge I would probably not succeed with anything in my life.
As for being very social, I think that's a skill you don't necessarily need to learn until just at the end of your teen years.
I've focused most of my attention on getting good at coding, while I didn't get much time to socialise. At this point in my life though it's becoming much more important to be social, so I'm teaching myself that now.

I would never want to edit anything in my past as it has made me to the person I am and I'm happy with being that person. If you're unhappy with who you are then you just have to do something about it. It may take some time but it will really boost your life quality. There is much more to the life than just your teen years after all.

[Horve]

I regret nothing

[a-4-year-old]

My last 2 years of high school were spent waiting to go to college. I get here in college and find that being reasonably prepared for college level courses is a rare thing.  A classmate thought that Freshman year engineering was a weed out year and it took a lot of effort not to laugh in her face.

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

Part of me thinks I would alter my high school life to take better advantage of social opportunities (parties, dances, etc.), but the other part of me says, "Hey, I like who I am right now, and changing my past could change my present for the worse."

In my mind, the sort of people who would rewrite their pasts are simply dissatisfied with their lives in general, and they conclude that their teenage years are to blame.  My response? Rather than blaming your past, focus on your future.  Of course you'll get old reliving your teenage years, because the sort of person who would do that will never be satisfied with the results.  Instead, it's so much more important to improve who you currently are.  You want to be more social? Talk to more people.  You want to be better with computers? Study them.  You want to get in shape? Go on a diet.  There's nothing that you could have done in the past that you can't do now.  Just do it.

It seems to me that this notion of reliving the past is tied into the desire for immediate gratification.  I want to be a great pianist (or at least a proficient one), but I understand that will take years.  So, instead of working hard for 10 years and becoming great by the time I'm 32, it's tempting to say, "If only I'd started practicing when I was 12, I'd be great now."  The problem? When I was twelve, I had no appreciation for music.  Practice would have seemed boring and tedious, and I probably would've ended up swearing off piano for good.  I would've lost an opportunity, so I would try again, fail again, try again, fail again, etc., ultimately "growing old rewriting my teenage years."

We like to think that, given the chance, we'd do everything we could to make the future (no matter how distant) perfect.  But anyone with any common sense knows that's not true.  If I offered you 100 dollars now or 10 dollars each month for the next year, you'd take the 100.  It's a simple psychological fact.  It's the reason people get into credit card debt, the reason they eat themselves into obesity, the reason they don't buy insurance.

We're not satisfied with the present and we can't commit to changing the future.  Of course most people would grow old reliving their teenage years.

[Snow]

Sometimes I wish I could "butterfly effect" myself back to 17... but not to rewrite my teen years, rather to prepare myself better for my 20's. My teen years sucked because school sucked ass, there was no internet, no Soldat and I had to be one of the unlucky ones to be outcast and picked on despite that I was pretty normal. But, I would never go back. The thing is, I'm not the person that I was during those years. The best years of your life in my opinion is your 20's and 30's. Those of you in your teens at the moment, might scoff at that, but once you get to that age, it's true. As soon as you graduate from the prison that is high school - that life immediately ends and you realize that the real world out there is different.

If I could relive my 20's... I would in a heartbeat, since that's where I made regrettable mistakes that cost me some of those years. In otherwords I wasted almost a good 4 years of my prime. I was no longer the social outcast, but I let myself get manipulated by what my parents wanted at the time and ended up living in a crappy s**thole, lost $50000 (which was my college savings at the time), was far away from my friends and that led to depression which took another 2 years to crush. I ended up having to struggle and work twice as hard just to go to school and even then I had to scrape a living, where as those savings could have helped me out a bit and helped me focus on schoolwork rather than "what am I going to eat tonight".

As for me, nothing that happened in my teenage years had much if any impact on the rest of my life (except for poor marks, having to upgrade pissed me off). Honestly, right now I'm 33 and it wouldn't have mattered if I had was the center of affection and attention during my teen years or if I had been outcast and spat upon to the brink of suicide. Most of my class and thus peers turned out to be losers after they got into the real world. Many of the girls got pregnant before 19. I remember many of them ending up working in fast food for years. Some of the "coolest" kids, ended up going to jail for causing an accident while drinking or I saw them working a s**t job like on a road crew - completely miserable and looked like they aged an extra 10 years. So, it's kind of ironic, since if you were to ask what I would have preferred as a teen - be part of the cool clique or outcast. I would say outcast. The struggle made me stronger and appreciate life more. My "peers" didn't have much struggle, didn't get strong and ended up crashing. It's still ironic, that I still had a hard time in my 20's, but that had nothing to do with my teens or how I left high school.

So, point is, that no matter what happened. In the end, I would probably be the same person now. Who I am now is who I like and I'm very happy, but to get here took things that I realized in my 20's, which I think would have happened no matter what. One thing I'll say, is if you're young, late teens, early 20's, use common sense, have as much fun as possible (but still be responsible). Enjoy those years, because once you pass that 20 mark, 33 sneaks up very fast.

[12th_account]

It seems unhealthy to want to change the past. I mean, do you think time travel is a feasible option to change your current predicament? If your past sucked then do something about it now. Stop moping and clamoring for a supernatural miracle.

Oh and jrgp, you're still made fun of daily here. <3

And Stephen King is a hack.

[Espadon]

Make sure you're not setting yourself up for more regrets then.

[ds dude]

I feel like s**t everyday.

I go to school looking normal, but when I get home I start going into periods of extreme rage, feeling no remorse, sorry, or sympathy for anything and anyone, not men, not women, not children, inside my room.

I'm pretty depressed, but other things take my mind off it, consider it my "medication."

I know what I want to do in the future and strive but that doesn't stop the mental distraught I'm going through.

[MattH]

Self confidence is overrated... You just got to put your face to the grindstone and get on with life.

[ds dude]

Self confidence is not overrated, it just depends on how you develop it and for what purpose.

[Blacksheepboy]

Self confidence is overrated... You just got to put your face to the grindstone and get on with life.

That's like saying your reputation is overrated.
Or like saying fear or stress is overrated.

[Demonic]

Nah. Without all the shit that occurred throughout high school, I wouldn't be half as awesome as I am today.

Plus you can sex up teenagers in your twenties too, but it gets boring fast.

[jrgp]

Thanks for your replies, gamer, snow, and fryer.

Oh and jrgp, you're still made fun of daily here. <3

Yeah, by the dumb c**ts who don't matter, like you.

Nah. Without all the s**t that occurred throughout high school, I wouldn't be half as awesome as I am today.

[iDante]

Even when I was an antisocial pigdog in the beginning of high school I still learned valuable skills aka programming that I use today as easy A classes in college. If I could change anything it would be minor ways in which I treated other people during the time, but I think everyone is a bit of a dick during and immediately after puberty and I was better than most so whatever. Also I like run ons.

Just live and learn and everything seems to work out in the end. Or maybe that's just me I'm not really sure.

[12th_account]

Oh and jrgp, you're still made fun of daily here. <3

Yeah, by the dumb c**ts who don't matter, like you.

It's only human nature to pick on the the weakest; this will never change. The problem is on your end.

[SadistAtHeart]

Human life expectancy is way longer than 18 years. High school is a small and insignificant fraction of your life. Try to tell me that you give a f**k about wasted high school opportunities in four years.

[pavliko]

I regret that I've wasted all those years on soldat and now I'm too addicted to it so I just can't stop..
Not even God(Or what ever there is, if there is anything) can stop me!!! Muhahaha...


Nah joking...

But seriously?
I would like to go back and use my current 'adult' confidence to change a lot...

ADDED: That kid photo is scary!!! He looks into my soul
"I'm gonna eat your eye ball, roar!!!" Something like that....

So, Who is it?

[ds dude]

Oh and jrgp, you're still made fun of daily here. <3

Yeah, by the dumb c**ts who don't matter, like you.

It's only human nature to pick on the the weakest; this will never change. The problem is on your end.

How do you know he's weak if you never met the guy.

You're so full of yourself.



Seriously. Get out.