Not making school a priority in high school and then getting into the best possible college. I partied a lot in high school and never did a lick of homework, but pulled average grades by always going to class and doing the reading. I still got accepted to UT by way of my SAT scores, but I should have set my sights higher. Also, while I was pretty nice guy in high school, not mean spirited, there's a couple of girls I should have treated better. There's been a few times when I should have spoken up and didn't when people made blatantly racist or homophobic comments. Sometimes I would say something, sometimes I wouldn't, and the times I didn't still stick with me.
Besides the obligatory should have gone for it regrets... I regret it took me until my late 30's to find my occupational calling, but hey, I did find it. I regret I didn't stick with music after high school and didn't pay more attention in HS. I regret that since my first kid came along, I've let myself get too fat. All in all, not too much. I think I've done a reasonably good job of making peace with my life choices... except for those two particular girls...Damn it!
Yep, I am the sum of my experiences, and I'm cool with who I am, but if there is a regret, I wish I felt a little more worthy in my early adult years. It's tough going through life waiting for all your cool ideas to show up on paper before you think they're worthy to share with others.
Well, son, the funny thing about regret is that it's better to regret something you have done than to regret something that you haven't done.
MadMax - have you guys seen the new Christmas Carol movie? It's kind of scary but very true to the book; a 9 year old should be able to handle it. They do show the ghosts out the window. My biggest regret is a first relationship and marriage that was just plain scary. Part of generally surrounding myself with a bunch of arrogant a--holes and forgetting what nice normal friends were like, and part of not knowing what to look for in relationships, and part of not standing up for myself (which was the story of my early life). Thank goodness that's all over now. I got to be myself, just took a while to get settled and lost several years of time. I guess it was supposed to happen because it gives me an appreciation for the life I have, knowing where I've been. I was afraid that if I majored in music I would regret it, so I didn't... then I ended up regretting not majoring in music. So I'm back in school. Hopefully I won't regret that. At least I have my other degree for security and hopefully can use both in my career(s).
I should have traveled after college. I've taken some cool trips anyways, but I regret not spending 6+ months backpacking around Europe. Now that I have kids and a mortgage, that kind of traveling freedom is decades away. My sister and her husband sold their flat in Edinburgh and have been off traipsing around the globe the past few years, and that always reminds me that I should have done it. My wife and I both want to make sure we can give our kids some money after they graduate college to see the world before they enter the workforce.
Not really. Life really begins for girls around 15-16, it's the prime of their idealistic innocence along with sexual maturity. With their need to overthink and genetic inclinations not to be the adventurous ones, the mistakes they make play over in their head a lot more than guys. Girls want to be established by their late 20's, and most don't have the tools to do this without a long and solid framework.
Watching 2 girls/1 cup. Wish the wife and I could have traveled more before we had kids. I've never been to Europe and I don't see that happening now for some time. Regret that I am very afraid of heights. Roller coasters look fun, but there ain't no way in hell I'm getting on one.
I have a lot of regrets and what I regret the most will change. I'm not going to say what my biggest regret is but I will relate one story I don't mind telling about regret. When I was a junior in college a friend of mine grew up with one of the Stanford cheerleaders and invited her over to a party at his fraternity at Cal on Friday of Labor Day weekend. For those who don't know Stanford and Cal are big rivals being both in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the party I hung out with the Stanford cheerleaders and even made out a little with the one from my friends hometown but there was one an incredible one from Louisiana who I seemed to be hitting it off with who told me that she along with a few of the other cheerleaders weren't seeing anyone. Also she told me that they were having a party back in Stanford on Sunday night and I should go. So Sunday I head down to Stanford and have a pretty good time at the party. I'm completely fixated on the cheerleader from Louisiana but she shoots me down. I'm pretty pissed about it and as I'm heading out the other cheerleader who I had made out with gives me a hug and ask me if I want to stay the night. I'm too pissed about being shot down that I rather brusquely tell her no and head back to Berkeley grumbling. Next morning I realize what an idiot I had been to turn down a beautiful Stanford cheerleader just because I had been turned down by another one. At the time that was a huge regret for the next year but looking back I find it more humorous than painful. Anyway while I will say that its pretty much impossible to live life without regrets its not worth it to be caught up in regret. Life is what it is and if things had changed somethings might not change for the better.
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