What would you change and why?
In 2015 I turned down an excellent job in the Netherlands - a country I see myself retiring in - because I had an even better job coming up in the UK at the EMEA campus of a major global corporation. Then Brexit hit, and our incompetent, populist government paralyzed themselves by making multiple contradicting promises, pissing off everyone else in Europe, presuming the most extreme implementation of Brexit imaginable to satisfy some kind of nationalist bloodlust, and refusing to entertain any kind of diplomacy or moderation. The company I was starting with waited as long as they could but ultimately had to throw in the towel - how could they have their EMEA headquarters in a country that wouldn’t even commit to allowing foreigners visit, let alone live and work here - and they shut the campus and all the jobs moved to EU countries. Desperate I took a series of miserable underpaying jobs in shitty towns. It took me eight years to find a job that would allow me to pay rent consistently and even though I like my current role it pays about a third what I would have been earning, even before adjusting for inflation.
So I wish I’d taken that job in the Netherlands: I could have citizenship by now and reclaimed the freedom and opportunity that was taken from me.
That sucks. I feel for you.
Today, between classes, I decided to go to the co-op instead of the library and doing my property reading. I told myself I’d just pick up some red lentils, since my grocery store is out. It’s only a 20 minute bus. -$113 dollars later and missing the bus and standing outside in the freezing cold for an uber and missing my property quiz again…should’ve just went to the library…
I walked home one time instead of paying for an uber.
I would say a mile and a half is the maximum I will walk. past that it’s not worth it.
I wish I had learnt social skills earlier. Brilliant at maths and science but did not start paying attention to the soft skills until mid 20s.
If it makes you feel better, there are so many people like this 😅.
On the flip side, people can also “lose” their social skills - I feel like I have had good social skills since being a kid/teenager, but they got rusty because trauma meant that I shut down and stopped talking to people as much. I was facing so much anxiety around social interactions that I sought a diagnosis for autism as an adult, but the doc made a strong case that it was other factors, and since getting a better understanding of it all I’ve become more of a social butterfly again.
Would have skipped college and gone straight into my feild (stationary engineering). You don’t really need a degree in my state and I could have been making a shit load of money by 21-22. Still in a good spot but I’d be way ahead.
As someone who did drop out at 20, freshman year, the job market sucks and the degree you hold does have value. I’m 26 and almost completely given up on finding a job in the field I want to work in, Software Development. AI and the tech boom have really stalled my advances. I took some community college courses but still employers are looking for a bachelor’s degree or higher. I have tons of experience coding but that never translates to a job
I got a degree in mechanical engineering, it made everything I had to be proficient with on paper easier. I was way behind on the practical side of things though. If it weren’t the specific field and state I’m in I’d agree with ya.
I messed up during character creation and didn’t pick the rich parents perk, it’s making gameplay much more difficult.
Damn. You too?
I thought I had all the sliders on max easy setting, but I missed that one.
I went to a café just before the Covid lockdown and got Covid. Been chronically ill for the past 6 years. I should have stayed at home.
Bought a house on a corner lot. I liked that we would have one less neighbor around us and the potential resale value of a corner lot property. Only realized later the pain to mow a larger area and having to deal with people letting their dogs pee all over the side yard as they pass by. Also, kids throwing trash (sometimes into the yard) as they walk home from school.
Neighbors can be a lot worse than everything you listed. Carry on by imagining the missing neighbor would have been the neighbor of nightmares
Nah. What’s done is done. Hard lessons, but those are the ones I remember.
But let’s imagine I could send a message to an alternate timeline version of past me. I have some ideas.
Don’t hang out with the people on this list. Learn about mental illnesses such as narcissism, bipolar disorder, paranoia, depression, and psychosis. Read a bit about conspiratorial thinking too.
Equipped with this info, you no longer need that list of names. You can notice when it is the time to leave a particular crowd. Now that you didn’t learn things the hard way, you avoided some hardship and trouble.
I should have bought myself a home when I was a fetus.
Dude. That happens like twelve time a day.
Fuckin all of them?
Years ago you would have been called a little tart but not now, It’s acceptable don’t stress.
Shoulda stopped doing drugs
Picked a wrong week to quit smoking?
Wrong day to quit huffing glue.
Probably try to avoid the fight with the bully that got me arrested. Like wtf, I was only defending myself, but school was xenophobic.
But idk actually, I’m not sure if I actually regretted it, sure, I got CPTSD from it, but hey I got writing material for my memoir… 🤷♂️
Should we really change history?
Like… all the trauma makes my life more interesting to talk about.
Sure I’m a puddle of depression, but I have a real “sob story”…
Did something stupid in life?
Write a memoir about it. xD
But real talk, if I went back in time, I’d probably try to make more friends… I was so socially awkward because of my fuckedup childhood and family of origin that caused it
Yeah, you should’ve thought of that before you decided to be Asian with your kung-fu and dumplings…
I was in a similar but opposite situation, minus the xenophobia. I don’t remember what started it, but in 6th grade I decided to throw a punch at a 9th grader. Everyone assumed he instigated it. I clearly remember starting it, but I obviously didn’t tell anyone that.
Yeah, you should’ve thought of that before you decided to be Asian with your kung-fu and dumplings…
Lmfao
Btw, that incident was in like March/April 2020… at the height of Covid, just a week before schools decided to shut down…
I was so mad… like… WHY DIDN’T Y’ALL SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOLS A WEEK EARLIER??? 😭
Edit: I should probably get those records, court documents, police reports. I need to remember those names so I know when to fire someone / not hire someone if I happened to be in a position to manage a company or something.
Nothing I’ve done, as stupid as it might have been, has resulted in me having a worse life altogether or has destroyed/heavily negatively altered anyone else’s life. It was stupid of me to move to a different country in a far away continent so young and without knowing how important other people’s company was in my life (and, more importantly, without speaking the language fluently enough to feel comfortable enough to crack jokes and make friends!), I flunked out of uni, my visa expired and was massively depressed… but then I joined the army, became a national, God helped me find my now wife and my wife helped me find God. I would do it again, no hesitation.
The one thing I do regret is losing touch with one friend from my army days. I simply forget to reply and then months later I feel embarrassed to do so. I have somewhat changed my ways since, and he was married so it’s not like they didn’t have each other, but I still feel a little bad about that one.
In 2013 I bought a train ticket to Paris.
Why was that a mistake?
They play D&D and thought they were buying two tickets to Paris dice.
