What do you wish you'd done when young?

[Sycamore]

I'm 23, and work in an Engineering Design office with people of various ages.

I'm planning on handing my notice in soon and heading out travelling Asia for quite some time, with the idea of I may as well do it while I'm able to before mortgages, kids etc come along.

Is there anything you'd do differently if you could go back to when you were young? Different career choices, travel, partners etc?

[motco]

Work hard at school

[roboxm3]

There's a couple of things that have had a negative affect on others, so I'd definitely not do those if I had another go at growing up.

For me, I think try harder at school / 6th form, join the RAF and try to become a pilot.
Other than racing cars / bikes, which is too largely dependant on having parents that are in a position to get you started, it's the one job that I look at with great envy.

I quite regularly think that I'd like to try / have tried a different career path but at the end of the day, it's all work with varying degrees of difficulty / pay. Whereas flying...that's never getting boring, surely!?

[AllyBassman]

motco said:

Work hard at school

Yup, I like my job and Career, I just wish I had pushed a little harder and maybe gone down a different route.

Also, not gone to Uni! a waste of money IMO, I could have got to where I am now without it.

[Trophy Husband]

Not taken the blow jobs for granted.

[Samcat]

Studied harder at school and discovered mountain biking

[Frank7]

I would have taken a more spirited crack at Jennifer Nichols when we were about 13, she played a little hard to get, and her friend Ruth Jenner’s smouldering eyes promised untold adventures.
Unfortunately Ruth’s adventures stopped dead at hand jobs.
Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, etc.

[Trophy Husband]

Frank7 said:

I would have taken a more spirited crack at Jennifer Nichols when we were about 13, she played a little hard to get, and her friend Ruth Jenner’s smouldering eyes promised untold adventures.
Unfortunately Ruth’s adventures stopped dead at hand jobs.
Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, etc.

Unless it is with one eye!

[wazztie16]

I'm 27, but in my mid teens had the chance to sleep with a girl with the biggest knockers.

Didn't take it.

Should've done.

Ah well.

[MYOB]

I'd wished I was more appreciative of friends and family when younger, rather than intent on looking out for myself and having so much fun.

Too many women, too much partying...and yet, my best moments in life revolve around my young kids.

[alorotom]

Im 35. Like others here, I wanted to become a pilot but decided later on when it wouldn’t be feasible to quite my career and retrain so learned and gained my PPL a couple of years ago, I’d love to go commercial but it’s a pipe dream

I also didn’t have a crack at my high school crotch throb when I was a shy teen but got the chance many moons later and she shattered my long held fantasy ... massive unkempt bush and no enthusiasm at all ... I was decidedly let down by her (and no doubt her by me lol)

I was lucky at school and breezed through gcse and a levels, acing them without any effort from me but decided against uni ... I don’t regret that for a moment I did it at all later to turn my life around after my first marriage (toxic)

I’m a firm believer in what I am today is a product of my circumstance previously and hard work ... and I’m proud of where I am work and socially today

[NDA]

Probably not started smoking. I gave up in 2016, but I don't think it did me much good.

[xjay1337]

Wish I had gone into aerospace / motorsport engineering.

Or became an Astrophysicist, like Brian Cox but without the annoying accent.

[red_slr]

Should have taken the job I was offered in San Diego when I was in my early 20s.

Other than that not a lot that I regret. Spent my late teens and early 20s doing lots of track days, travelled around quite a bit and generally having a good time. Worked around the country and met some cool people.

It was my late 20s where things got boring! I would actually rather change that time I think rather than my younger years.

[MXRod]

Not ploughing thousands in a private pension , that paid out less than a quarter of the prediction , I think I just about got my money back with a SMALL profit , and not with a tin pot company , think black cape from north of the border
The annuity now pays out a pittance .
Had I have banked the money I would have ended up with much more in the bank and no obligation to buy an annuity .
The only good thing I did with pension planning was to opt for SERPS , so I now get an enhanced state pension.
So think very carefully about signing away a bucket of cash in a private pension , better to invest on bonds and ISAs

[C0ffin D0dger]

It can be very easy to get look back at past decisions, get bogged down with the "what ifs" and get depressed

If travel feels like the right thing for you to do now then go for it, it's possibly a regret of mine not being brave enough to do stuff like that when I was younger.

There's some financial decisions I wish I'd taken differently in my younger days which would mean I'd be a lot more comfortable now. Main one was not buying a flat or house when first moving to Gloucestershire to work after leaving Uni. At the time I was convinced I'd be moving on from that job in 3-5 years so didn't want to make the financial commitments, but 23 years later I still here At one point my landlord even offered to sell me a flat I was living in for around £25k but I decided to move on instead as I fancied a change of scene. Idiot!

I also wish I'd been a bit more forward with the ladies when I was younger but I was very shy and rubbish at chatting up girls in clubs / pubs. The Internet revolutionised this for me and eventually led to me finding my now wife but I do really wish Internet dating had been around a bit sooner or I'd been born a bit later

[LiamB]

Kept my bitcoins rather than waste them, I had a fair few when they were worth fk all

Learn how to be less socially awkward

[Shenanigans]

1. Shagged more
2. Travelled more
3. Studied harder more in High School and Uni


Don't mind 1. and 2. that much but I do really regret not taking a year or 2 out to travel after my Education. Something I will be recommending to the kids to do.

[cobra kid]

Lowered my standards and shagged whatever moved.

[supercommuter]

Gonna pay my house off then go travelling.

Regret not exercising more, nothing that can't be sorted now though.