Life gives you one "do over"

Cop out.

Come on play along, you don't have things you look back on and wish you could have done differently?

Certainly there are things here and there I could change but those mistakes are things I've learned from. Who knows, if they didn't happen I might have made the same mistakes over again. Like my dad always use to say, "If you feel inadequate or down make it a point to learn something because you don't want to learn the hard way later on."

So no, it's not a cop-out. I value every moment of my past, including the bad moments.

I don't know. What I'd like to change was kind of out of my control. I was expected to bring home A's and B's only, but that's all that my parents cared about my education. Most parents seem to care about if their kid takes the SAT, etc. Mine never mentioned it and I only took it junior year, got a 1270 (this is when it was 1600 scale); should've taken it again senior year, my guidance counselor said I should be around the 1400 range, but all of the dates kept lining up with wrestling tournaments and I was already getting top scholarship offers academically with my junior year score. I begged my mom all of the time to just take the 5-10 minutes to complete my FAFSA with her tax info, apply for the PIN to sign it electronically with, etc. She never did.. too busy in her own little world.. it was always "We'll do that later okay?" or "Remind me tomorrow." Because of that the school's financial departments really couldn't do much for me, plus the FAFSA and college applications were already past due, so I packed up and moved back to Northern VA.. paid for a couple of semesters at NVCC and haven't been back since.

I guess I'd try to find some way to change all of that. I really thought that by this time I'd be done graduate school and like everyone else from here thinks, making a change in the DC area.

Certainly there are things here and there I could change but those mistakes are things I've learned from. Who knows, if they didn't happen I might have made the same mistakes over again. Like my dad always use to say, "If you feel inadequate or down make it a point to learn something because you don't want to learn the hard way later on."

So no, it's not a cop-out. I value every moment of my past, including the bad moments.

I get that. Our mistakes make us who we are are just like our successes. And no matter what path you choose, hindsight is always 20/20. There are no perfect lives of course, this thread is just asking what if you were given that one golden chance to make a different decision. What would you do differently?

I get that. Our mistakes make us who we are are just like our successes. And no matter what path you choose, hindsight is always 20/20. There are no perfect lives of course, this thread is just asking what if you were given that one golden chance to make a different decision. What would you do differently?

My life turned out pretty damn good and I can't think of a single decision that has impacted my life negatively or that I truly regret



...but I would love to take back that one night where I left my friend with 4 beautiful girls a few years ago cause I was tired and found out next day that he took one of them home and that one of them was looking for me. I left dimes for sleep.

There was a certain woman whom I dated several years ago whose destructive path in my life continues. It's a long story about how it all works out but, in the end, I didn't get a kid that I treasure or anything like that. Instead I got years of pain in the ass which continue long after we broke up. For example, she lied to me about her marital status but her crazy ex-husband blamed me and continues to do dirty things to me, despite the fact that I never would have been with her if I had known the truth.

I just wish I had grown up faster . I spent too much time in my teens and twenty's focusing on women , cars and sports . Not that I do not love my life , I would have been better off with more focus on work/career . I do feel lucky now , I have a work ethic and a lot of fine friends ; family and live in the good old USA . Oh , and I did not grow up in cowboy/eagle or giant country :)

I wouldn't change a thing. There have been many eff ups and mistakes, things that could've been done differently but, I wouldn't go back and change them. My experience has made me the man I am, for better or worse. So be it.

I wouldn't change a thing. There have been many eff ups and mistakes, things that could've been done differently but, I wouldn't go back and change them. My experience has made me the man I am, for better or worse. So be it.

Funny/ironic/odd that you and saden have the same take...

Or maybe it makes complete sense.

I wouldn't change a thing. There have been many eff ups and mistakes, things that could've been done differently but, I wouldn't go back and change them. My experience has made me the man I am, for better or worse. So be it.

This is a cop out my friend. Saden you too.

Saying this is akin to saying that you as a person have no need for improvement. Everybody's got wishes to be somehow better. Smarter, more qualified, in better shape, more friends, deeper relationships, making more money, have more free time, have more skills, take more risks, take less risks, wondered what it'd be like to be with the one that got away, wondered what it'd be like if you ran sooner from the one you shouldn't have been with...

There's always something that could have been better. Nobody's perfect, not even you, saden.

If you think you're good to go right now and wouldn't make any changes or erase any past mistakes, then I'd humbly suggest that you should make a change in the here and now: take a harder look in the mirror and see what you can do today to be better going forward. Don't settle, because nobody's perfect.

I think, given my earlier thoughts, if it was a one point in time decision, it would be my decision to go in as an MP, that was almighty dumb, I had an outstanding DLAB(Language Aptitude) score and wanted to go Military Intelligence but changed at the last minute to MP. IF it was a time frame, I would say July 2001-Dec2001, I handled depression/divorce et al in an absolutely horrid way and my life would be radically better had I had even an ounce of common sense in my body at that part of my life.