Would you start again?
Discussion
I'm not sure if it's an age thing, but at 34 with one kid and another on the way I sometimes find myself thinking about my own mortality. I'm starting to realise I'm actually getting on a bit now, 2007 wasn't a couple of years ago, it was 10. How the hell did that happen?
I left school 17 years ago now, and the 90s were a f
king long time ago, even tho it feels like a few years.
I get all nostalgic when I see stuff from the past, specifically the 80s and 90s, and I often find myself wishing I could go back. I was born in 83 and marvel at how simple it looked (old TV programmes etc). Sometimes I sit here wishing I could start again, live through the 80s again and experience it all again. Problem is I feel guilty too. I'm a dad and I love my little boy so much, but I often sit here wishing I could start over. Think of the things I'd do differently.
I can't be the only one?
I left school 17 years ago now, and the 90s were a f
king long time ago, even tho it feels like a few years.I get all nostalgic when I see stuff from the past, specifically the 80s and 90s, and I often find myself wishing I could go back. I was born in 83 and marvel at how simple it looked (old TV programmes etc). Sometimes I sit here wishing I could start again, live through the 80s again and experience it all again. Problem is I feel guilty too. I'm a dad and I love my little boy so much, but I often sit here wishing I could start over. Think of the things I'd do differently.
I can't be the only one?
Edited by S10GTA on Sunday 19th February 21:34
I am 41 with 2 kids and feel the same too. I am really glad I have my kids but I have made many mistakes when I was younger and I wished I had done some things differently.
Over the last couple of years I have even been buying things from my youth you see on eBay, the Coca Cola gold yoyo, cans of top deck(not to drink of course), Lacoste soap, old games systems like the sega master system.
Over the last couple of years I have even been buying things from my youth you see on eBay, the Coca Cola gold yoyo, cans of top deck(not to drink of course), Lacoste soap, old games systems like the sega master system.
Edited by simonr100 on Sunday 19th February 22:29
No I don't think so (age 40). Thoroughly enjoyed my youth, made some huge mistakes but who would know where it would end up if I hadn't had made them? If I'm absolutely honest, about the only thing I really miss is being fitter and let's be honest, I cold do something about that if I really wanted to! DJ'ing, partying hard and being promiscuous were all very much good fun back then, but I've been there and done that.
All in all, with a wife and kid who love me, good friends and family, a home we love and a nice car in the garage what more could I want? Oh it would be nicer to have more money and security but there is nothing that would guarantee that regardless. I wouldn't give up my family for the world.
Would I want my family to grow up in a slightly more innocent and less capitalist world? Maybe, but then maybe we look back with rose tinted specs...
All in all, with a wife and kid who love me, good friends and family, a home we love and a nice car in the garage what more could I want? Oh it would be nicer to have more money and security but there is nothing that would guarantee that regardless. I wouldn't give up my family for the world.
Would I want my family to grow up in a slightly more innocent and less capitalist world? Maybe, but then maybe we look back with rose tinted specs...
Not for a second do I look back.
I am 68, have had an amazingly varied career, lived in multiple countries. was aware from about 15 that the one thing you cannot waste is time..always knew it. Health is great, still track cars, drive edgy cars, work a lot, log 70,000 miles a year in the air…
Like where I am now and have ZERO nostalgia……
Apart from pubs with smoke in them and no television, I suppose.
I am 68, have had an amazingly varied career, lived in multiple countries. was aware from about 15 that the one thing you cannot waste is time..always knew it. Health is great, still track cars, drive edgy cars, work a lot, log 70,000 miles a year in the air…
Like where I am now and have ZERO nostalgia……
Apart from pubs with smoke in them and no television, I suppose.
Yes, would love to as I'm really not happy with life at the moment.
Born in '68 so a child of the eighties but was always an outcast, not one of the trendy crew. Rarely went to nightclubs, bit of a loner almost (think Will from The Inbetweeners) and as such, left school with very few real friends.
Since then, have had 12-15 jobs; married with two kids then divorced then two more from another serious relationship that ended in 2005-ish. Flitted about from house to house for a while but been here eight years now.
Just wish I could start again and not make the dumb mistakes I did first time around. Although I'm now a single dad, feel very lonely these days so fill up life with voluntary stuff, football admin work and spending too much time online. Know loads of people but not close to many and have had no relationship now for nine years. Almost at the point where I won't be bothered about meeting someone.... eight stone overweight doesn't help much either.
Yes, wish I could start again but haven't got the energy, motivation or willpower to do anything about it.
Born in '68 so a child of the eighties but was always an outcast, not one of the trendy crew. Rarely went to nightclubs, bit of a loner almost (think Will from The Inbetweeners) and as such, left school with very few real friends.
Since then, have had 12-15 jobs; married with two kids then divorced then two more from another serious relationship that ended in 2005-ish. Flitted about from house to house for a while but been here eight years now.
Just wish I could start again and not make the dumb mistakes I did first time around. Although I'm now a single dad, feel very lonely these days so fill up life with voluntary stuff, football admin work and spending too much time online. Know loads of people but not close to many and have had no relationship now for nine years. Almost at the point where I won't be bothered about meeting someone.... eight stone overweight doesn't help much either.
Yes, wish I could start again but haven't got the energy, motivation or willpower to do anything about it.
Knowing what I know now I wouldn't mind going back for another go, assuming the knowledge went with me. If not, I'd probably just make the same kind of daft mistakes.
That being said, I am where I am and have an absolutely perfect little 4yo girl. Any one thing I change could possibly lead me down another path where she may not be born. There's just no way I'd risk it.
That being said, I am where I am and have an absolutely perfect little 4yo girl. Any one thing I change could possibly lead me down another path where she may not be born. There's just no way I'd risk it.
RDMcG said:
Not for a second do I look back.
I am 68, have had an amazingly varied career, lived in multiple countries. was aware from about 15 that the one thing you cannot waste is time..always knew it. Health is great, still track cars, drive edgy cars, work a lot, log 70,000 miles a year in the air…
Like where I am now and have ZERO nostalgia……
Apart from pubs with smoke in them and no television, I suppose.
I always appreciate your posts R, even the ones that aren't about P Cars. But I must admit, one of the things I do most miss about my youth is sitting down at a barstool, having a hard drink pored and lighting up to savour the moment. I am 68, have had an amazingly varied career, lived in multiple countries. was aware from about 15 that the one thing you cannot waste is time..always knew it. Health is great, still track cars, drive edgy cars, work a lot, log 70,000 miles a year in the air…
Like where I am now and have ZERO nostalgia……
Apart from pubs with smoke in them and no television, I suppose.
I gave up smoking a long time ago, and I'm sure your post wasn't meant to glorify nicotine addiction but it does make me think how I miss it. i've often thought about buying a pack to enjoy out on the balcony when the mood fits but if I'm honest, I don't think it's a good idea! One pack can easily become two...
Totally provided I could take my knowledge with me. Never made enough mistakes in my youth and have felt like I've been playing catch up ever since.
That said, I'm now 34, still fit and single with no real responsibilities- on one hand that's not where I wanted to be, but on the other I know plenty who would kill to be in my position, so I guess I just owe it to my future self to make the best use of the next decade and see where I end up. Am even pondering going to Uni!
That said, I'm now 34, still fit and single with no real responsibilities- on one hand that's not where I wanted to be, but on the other I know plenty who would kill to be in my position, so I guess I just owe it to my future self to make the best use of the next decade and see where I end up. Am even pondering going to Uni!
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I always appreciate your posts R, even the ones that aren't about P Cars. But I must admit, one of the things I do most miss about my youth is sitting down at a barstool, having a hard drink pored and lighting up to savour the moment.
I gave up smoking a long time ago, and I'm sure your post wasn't meant to glorify nicotine addiction but it does make me think how I miss it. i've often thought about buying a pack to enjoy out on the balcony when the mood fits but if I'm honest, I don't think it's a good idea! One pack can easily become two...
I never smoked cigarettes apart from the ones I stole from my mother when I was ten..made my very sick and that was that. However, the broader feeling of a pub which had a rough sense of companionship, where conversation was more important than the group absorption in the nearest TV screen, where the choices were more about three kinds of beer and two of whisky had a certain sort of warm simplicity. No I don't want to go back, but I do remember those nights very well, and the yellowed ceilings and walls and the blue atmosphere was a part of it. Of course it was horrible for health, but no regrets. Like a lot in my past, it was not necessarily good for me physically , but the feeling of fun of being part of a huge mobile party was very good.I gave up smoking a long time ago, and I'm sure your post wasn't meant to glorify nicotine addiction but it does make me think how I miss it. i've often thought about buying a pack to enjoy out on the balcony when the mood fits but if I'm honest, I don't think it's a good idea! One pack can easily become two...
I am very well aware that the world constantly morphs, and as such do not worry about the purity of the hand tooled past being replaced by machines, how the application of cellulose pinstripes by hand is being replaced by robots is a tragedy, how electric steering is less communicative than the good old hydraulic days and so on. We all have access to the products of the past, just not the experiences. You just have to do it now, whatever it is. I was with an old buddy of mine in Ireland a while ago and we were taking about our time in university,,when he had a Moke.
He quietly said.." I still have it"...so a couple of men in their late sixties went out to the garage at the back, we started her up and took a little run. However, its different and rightly so, Now it is just a harmless reconnection with a memory ( we are both still working because we like it),..then it was a shout of youth..the careless time of being ready for anything, no doors, silly car,all of the world before us, and the sheer energy and optimism of the future. That was a VERY good feeling. Glad it happened, it is still in me now, but there is also the experience of a different future still there. I am very realistic about the future..maybe one more car, as many adventures as are realistic. Great run, and like all great runs, there is an end. All of this trying to recapture the past is not worth it.
Let's assume you are Bill Gates.
You are the richest person on earth. Yet ....you get the same as I do,
24 hours.
So we are all equal at that level. Regretting the past or trying to go back removes your motivation to go forward.
Just keep moving. Anyway FWIW that is what worked for me.
I find that all a bit sad to be honest.
The past is the past; you cant change it, you can't go back.
You should, in my opinion, be focusing on making new memories, having new adventures, trying new things.
I know a few people that harp on about the past all the time...'remember when did that thing that was 20 years ago?'.
Yes I do remember it but I also did something as interesting last week.
As I say; the past is the past. Don't stagnate!
The past is the past; you cant change it, you can't go back.
You should, in my opinion, be focusing on making new memories, having new adventures, trying new things.
I know a few people that harp on about the past all the time...'remember when did that thing that was 20 years ago?'.
Yes I do remember it but I also did something as interesting last week.
As I say; the past is the past. Don't stagnate!
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