Would you live your life again?

High school again, no way ! I was too eager to finish it the first time !

On the other hand, if I could go back, I'd choose another University, no matter my parents "guidence" :D
 
My eldest daughter does gymnastics near a place I used to work when I was 16. Last week I took a wander and looked around.

I remember this thread distinctly.

Would you live your life again?
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Then I would have said - if I could be 16 again, with the mind that I have now - you bet the hell I would.

It's not so much that I dislike what I have now - as much as it's easier looking back on how precious your time was, and how even small decisions could have disproportionate effects.

There are things I would have liked to have done different - and in my early 30's, with family, I'm already on the bridge to middle-aged, and my opportunities have shrunken with it.

The teenage years are one of uncertain restlessness. But mentally, I guess I never really left.

I guess the real trick is not to look back to then and wonder "what if" - as much as mentally transport the self forward many years, even decades, and imagine looking back at yourself from that remote vantage point.

And then ask the question: "What would you change now?"
 
Although it might be an interesting experience (the chance to correct mistakes and prevent others from being harmed) I agree that nobody is above mistakes. Besides there's no fun in being perfect.
Although, I wouldn't mind being the four year old with the mind of an adult. (Maybe I've read too many Anne Rice novels?) Someone who is observant could easily fake being a child around others, or at least around adults, if not family members, for a while. It would give me the oportunity later on to skip the many pitfalls laid on my path.
As for changing personally, well, that really doesn't matter to me. I've gone through so many drastic changes that I was certain I'd never experience that I no longer have a desire to 'remain the way I am' (after all, I would be starting out as the person I am today, and there's no guarantee that I'll remain this way forever let alone in the near future, so it really doesn't matter how I change personally as a result of returning to the past)
My concern would be to see the ones I love repeating mistakes that I know would lead them to harm or eventually harm those around them, unable to prevent them, or preventing them with good intentions only to lead them into worse traps or misfortune. I don't think I want that responsibility.
I can't know everything, and I seriously don't know how the world would change as a result of my altering the future, any more than I know how I am altering the future now simply by being here! And as far as the pains of puberty et al, no, I don't think I would like to relive that, in any way shape or form. At the same time, it would be nice to believe I have/had more control over some aspects of my life at the time, or at least the oportunity to change it.
But the heart of the matter is you can never truly have control over anything but yourself, and even that, to a limited degree.
 
as many of you have stated:

had we been able to 'go back in time' and make different choices, the lives we live today would not exist. our children, and other loved ones would not be in our lives. other lives would have been impacted by the choices made and not made....rippling farther than we can see.

not one of us got to where we are with ease. well, not at the time of many of our experiences. but, we learned from those experiences. and that accumulating wisdom designed the person we are today.

i like who i am. i look back at where i've been, and things experienced....and, still, i like who i've become. even perceived bad experiences have good outcomes, although not known at the time.

in all of the world, and in all of life.... the only thing we can ever change is, ourself.


life is like a tapestry. as we're living it, we can only see the back side with all the threads hither and yon, the loose strings and plethoria of knots. in time, we'll see the front, and be awed at the masterpiece.

would i go back? no.

it's been a grande adventure, and this book's not yet complete. so, i'll jes settle back, and continue the reading...er, writing.

i will however, analyze a prior chapter in order to make perceived better choices with a current chapter.

it would seem to be more a perception of now, rather than a desire for then.

granni
 
Re:

This is such a fun thread to read! Well immediately, what you wrote Brian made me think of the Nietzsche quote:::

The heaviest burden: “What, if some day or night, a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life, as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh… must return to you—all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over again and again—and you with it speck of dust!’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: ‘You are a god, and never have I heard anything more divine!’ If this thought were to gain possession of you, it would change you as you are, or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, “do you want this once more and innumerable times more?” would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?” (The Gay Science, s. 341)

But then I re-read your question and I saw you implied we could make different decisions!!!

I would love to make a time machine and go back, but then you get in a conundrum I guess.

If it was as Nietzsche says I could not go back. Too much to relive!

If I could make different choices! Definitely. that'd be very fun!!!! and with the knowledge you have acquired after becoming older you know what to do.
 
I AM happy that I survived it, still standing and sane, from hell to heaven was an amazing journey that I would not wish on anyone. So no I would not wish to do it all again in the next life. There was a time when I was convinced I had one more incarnation on earth, but now I know I will not be back again.

Yes the journey helped me to become who I AM and pain/suffering was my greatest teacher.

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar
 
This has been a wish of mine since the age of 12. I would like to back and tell my Dad how to prevent the cancer that he died of. I even dream about doing that very thing.

EWWW though high school again? Or UGH going through labor again? *shudder*
 
I just wish the problems would stop. Not just mine, but everyones. It seems like just when you think you get to breathe, here comes something ELSE. What stinks is I try my BEST to never cause anyone any problems, but some people are just bred to create problems and make life difficult.

The funny thing is, I have spent the past 8 years to myself, working and going home and somehow the problems keep finding me. So I would not live my life over but I do wish I could change a couple of things from the past which is impossible to do now. I have had a wonderful life, blessed beyond measure.

What I kind of wish is, some other people I know would live there life over and leave the peaceful people out of it.:) (if you know what I mean)
 
Bandit said:
....What stinks is I try my BEST to never cause anyone any problems, but some people are just bred to create problems and make life difficult.
......
What I kind of wish is, some other people I know would live there life over and leave the peaceful people out of it.:) (if you know what I mean)
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I agree wholeheartedly. Most of the problems I've had in life have been caused by other people who can't keep themselves to themselves. It drives me crazy.
 
If I could go armed with some of the knowledge that I have now, yes. I would certainly correct some mistakes I have made in my life but then where would I be today if those mistakes were corrected? Would I have just gone on to make further mistakes and then wish again to correct those mistakes.
Its a double edged sword....be thankful for what I've got now I suppose
 
I said:
In The Twilight Zone: The Movie, the last story was about a group of old people in a home who are offered youth again. Almost all of them accept it – but one doesn't, on the grounds that she didn’t want to have to go through the experience of growing up again.

I also remembered that because it seemed a strange decision – at least, in my teens. Now I'm older I wonder which decision I'd actually take.

After all, on the one hand, it was be great to be able to return to our lives with the wisdom we have already acquired from it. But isn't that all part of growing up anyway?

But isn’t there also the danger of repeating past "mistakes", on the ground that the lessons learned no longer seemed so relevant in a second lifetime?

I'm sure even the younger among us have considered the advantages of rewinding life's clock - if only by a couple of years.

Anyway, what would you do if offered the chance?
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I don't know, I'm not finished yet.:)
 
Lightkeeper said:
I don't know, I'm not finished yet.:)
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Good point. How can one start a new race, when the current one isn't over?

By the way Brian, I was thinking more on that episode with the "kick the can kids". I think the one who didn't want to go back, only needed to feel/think young again, not neccessarily become young again. So in the end, he got that back. Maybe he made out better than the rest of them.

v/r

Q
 
brucegdc said:
Oh choices, choices choices :rolleyes:

1) Go back two and a half years and fight the last custody battle differently. (too soon old, too late wise).

2) Go back 6 years and redo the divorce agreement.

3) Go back 16 years and not spend 10 fighting to save a doomed marriage.

4) Go back 18 years and skip that dinner where I met my ex.

5) Go back 20 years or so and focus more on school work instead of partying in college.
etc
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If you think about it if you go back and chage things you wouldn't be you. Because the things you've been through and the way you've reacted has shaped your personality so in one sense its a form of sucide because your killing yourself by changing your expirences.

Personally I wouldn't want to go through half the crap I've been through and I know I wouldn't want to change anything about me.
 
Geist said:
If you think about it if you go back and chage things you wouldn't be you. Because the things you've been through and the way you've reacted has shaped your personality so in one sense its a form of sucide because your killing yourself by changing your expirences.

Personally I wouldn't want to go through half the crap I've been through and I know I wouldn't want to change anything about me.
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Yes. That is the ultimate truth...:D

v/r

W
 
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