What's The One Thing You Wish You Had Done ...

[Rudimental]

What's the one thing you wished you had done in your youth/younger days?

Mine is I'd wish I'd have gone travelling although it wasn't really a thing 20 years ago, like it is now.

Also, I'd wish I'd have slept with a women ( I'm female ) always been a tad curious, I'm married now and have a couple of kids so missed the boat there!

I wish I'd been able to say No. my relationships have ended because for most part I was at their beck and call and did everything they wanted. I had no backbone or self worth. Even did anal or carried on having sex when I was so sore from previous times.

I look back at my former self and think WTF - even I wouldn't have wanted to be with me.

I wish I had got off the plane, will always wonder if it would have worked out with my first love if I had done that.

I wish I had spoken up on my wedding day, I knew my (now x) husband had cheated on me multiple times with strangers on the internet and found the proof the night before our wedding but was too scared to speak up as it had cost my parents at a fortune so I went through with it. I kept quiet and he then did it multiple times over the next 6 years before we separated.

Maybe I wouldn't be so hung up on the first wish if the marriage had worked out 🤷‍♀️

Where is the first love now?

Like you OP travelled, though I'm not sure why you think it wasn't a thing 20 years ago. It was big back then, I knew loads of people who had buggered off to Australia and Asia etc in the early 00's

Now DC's are getting older it feels like the world is going to be open to me again soon even if it is just for the odd weekend here and there.

Wish I'd trained to be a surgeon.

Wish I'd made better choices with men.

Wish I'd looked after my teeth better.

I say that because I personally don't know anyone who did it back then. I've been to a decent amount of countries on holiday but never did the whole travelling thing. I have young children now and little money so it's never going to happen for me.

I wish I had left him.

If only I had known about mumsnet then. I would have run.

Going travelling as a youngster was already a thing when I left school.in the late 70s and had been for some time - how did the hippy trail get it's name! I also kind of wish I'd done it, but didn't have the confidence back then.

Wish I'd gone to uni too.

Studied harder and not fucked about. I could've been significantly more wealthy if I'd known then what I know now and just put my head down.

Gone to uni
Accepted that I was slim and a healthy weight and not continuously been 'on a diet'

This is also the same for me, too.

Lost weight when I was younger

Become a teacher 20 years ago, my pension would have been great now 😩

Not have got married, as it was the 'expected thing'. I should've stayed on my own.

I wish I’d spent more time with my mum, told her I loved her, thanked her, and asked her about the past. I didn’t know she would be taken so young, and so fast.
One other thing is that I wish I’d waited until my 30’s to have kids, I should have travelled.

I wish I'd known I was autistic when I was younger. Life has been such a grind and finally my diagnosis is giving me understanding.

Applied for the overseas jobs
Made a pass at a couple of blokes where I was fairly sure that they were interested but didn't have the confidence, particularly the one when I was still with my twat of an ex
In general: have more confidence to forge my own path rather than following what my friends were doing.

I have more than one thing -

I wish I had trained in something sensible like in an Allied Health Profession, which would have given decent job prospects outside of an office setting, and good options to travel abroad with a good job. It's taken me years in various corporate jobs to realise I hate office work and it's not going to get better. I can and will retrain eventually but it will be expensive.

I wish I had bought an apartment when they were throwing money at people (my brother got a 110% mortgage about 2005) but I went away instead and figured I could do it in a few years when I get back, then the crash happened...and nearly 20 years later I still don't own my own home. (obviously my own fault and the result of bad choices etc. as well but I know so many people who weren't making much money at the time but who got apartments, rode out the negative equity for a few years and then sold them off for a big profit).

Also, I know what you mean OP, I would love to travel again (and I will) but it's not the same as being 20 and going off on a big adventure with no commitments.
I backpacked for a few years through New Zealand and Australia in my early 20's and totally loved it, but did it again a few years ago mid 30's in Canada and it was quite different and not as much fun - I think now I'm older I would need some actual privacy and a room to myself these days (not a 12 bed dorm with strangers 😱) which will make it more expensive. Ah well, someday..

Travelled here, too. Too skint when really young, too busy building my career in my 20s, too baby-ridden in my 30s and bechilded in my 40s.

Maybe my 50s will be my globetrotting decade (DC's and uni fees hahaha yeah right).

I lacked confidence when I was younger and clung onto people as I was desperate to be liked and to have a 'normal' life. My parents were lovely but a bit 'different' and I yearned to have a normal home so settled down far too quickly.

I wish I had gone to uni and travelled.

My grandmother was objectively one of the most amazing people. She opened her home to a huge number of people, starting by fostering kids in the 70s, then refugees and people leaving psychiatric hospital and prison. She died when I was 13, and despite knowing she was amazing and admiring her hugely, I was such a socially awkward teenager that I didn't speak to her much in her last few years, even though she was at our house a lot. Huge regret - i have felt it from the minute I heard she had died.

I got offered a job in America when I was 21. I so wish id taken it.

I wish I had left DH years and years ago.
I thought I had to make more efforts, put my needs and wishes aside for the good of the relationship.
I was wrong. I put myself underneath him. He carried on living the life he wanted and I missed out on mine…..

@Rudimental he lives round the corner from me. He is married with no children, I am best friends with his cousin so still see him occasionally at family events and everytime I wonder what if!

Joined an overseas aid organisation as a nurse when I was first qualified. My mother was a controlling bully and wouldn't allow it because she needed me to make money so she could take it off me.