If you could redo something as the person you are now, what would it be?

[FlyingRabbitsAtNoon]

I have loads, and nearly all education based.

I was intelligent enough and my year 9 SATS were very good. Year 10 everything went down hill and I started skipping lessons, frequently, and for some reason unknown to me I wanted to emulate that naughty kid look. I even dyed my hair bright pink. Now I would actually love to learn that stuff. College was the same.

Uni I was even worse as I justified that I was paying so it didn’t matter if I didn’t turn up (probably a 30% show rate by the end). I remember finally turning up for a lecture and we were doing a test on logic trees. I’d missed the previous lecture so had no fucking clue what it was supposed to look like. I constantly handed in essays late incurring a penalty. Some of the final exams were a complete mystery for me. Now my life is more stable I’d love to rewind but be who I am now (or who I was when I was still keen).

What would you redo?

I would also probably not have had pets in my early 20s as that stopped me doing the short notice weekends away.

Most of my childhood. I was very lacking in confidence and got bullied. I'm still not very confident now but I care far less about others' opinions or their company. I remember crying when I was excluded from a friendship group by a bully. Nowadays it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

I wouldn't be in any relationships, move to New Zealand. Also would have no one else to blame for not following through with things. I'm more confident in my abilities than anyone else around me who convince me that I can't handle things

Dumped my boyfriend when I was in 6th form and picked my uni based on the course that I found more interesting not based on proximity to said boyfriend.

To be fair I made excellent friends at the uni I went to, did well in my degree and had lots of fun BUT there was also so much heartbreak with my crappy cheating emotionally abusive boyfriend who i stupidly stayed with until my early 20s because he had me believing no one
Would ever love me and he was doing me a favour by letting me be his Gf

I'd have another baby. I'd enjoy it more, be less anxious and have more confidence in my ability as a mother.

I'd have one child, not two.

I wish I had taken up playing team sports earlier on in life.

Hated team sports at school - I was a runner, because I was fast and it was a quick and easy way to get the whole thing over with. Also, the only team sport on offer to girls at my school was netball and, with respect to those who enjoy netball, I would rather have chewed my own arm off.

I played shinty and rugby at university, but kind of fell away due to lack of opportunity, then took them up again in my mid-30s.

Still playing in my early 40s and loving it, but I wish I had had the opportunity to do more, as I think I could have really been quite good (I am old now, and the bumps hurt more than they used to!).

Remained single, there is so much to be positive about to being happily single, looking at my DH of 33 years ! But it's been an effort and I don't honestly think it's worth it, and I am sure he thinks the same.

And on a minor point, wish I understood technology better.

I would dump my bf the 1st time he had a ONS instead of forgiving him and him leaving for someone else 10 years and 2 DCs later.

That is the one moment my future could have been 100% different but I was scared and hurt, and he seemed so sorry.

Uni.

I got into a serious relationship during first year, and ended up losing all my mates because of it.

I wish I’d stayed single, had more fun and made more friends. I did come out with a First though, which might not have happened if I’d partied more

I would have ignored my school career advisor!

Exactly the same as you education wise. Worked harder at A level, applied to different unis. Gone to uni single and non kept going home to see older boyfriend. Joined the Navy after uni and become a doctor or engineer.

Start my career from scratch and do it better (earning more along the way).

I was bullied as a child, suddenly, from age 8.

I'd like to go back to that moment as a child & figure out what (if anything) I did in first 3 hours of attending the new school that made everyone be so vile to me. I imagine I'd be a different 'child' now that wouldn't do whatever behaviour sin it is I did.

Oh, and I'd make the adults around me change things if the bullying happened anyway (if I could relive that life). Force them to see the bleedin' obvious.

Remained single, Never touched alcohol, never moved from my home town,
I would have my kids and raised them on my own.

Continued to believe in myself rather than let other people wear me down.

Redo high school, I was never bullied but I also wasn't not bullied if that makes sense? 🤔 I'd stand up for myself more and tell them where to stick it.

I'd have saved more money and not wasted it from the beginning of working (aged 17) so that buying a house wasn't such a struggle!

And if i could still have the DH and DC and dogs that I have now, I'd have moved abroad, not stayed in the city I was born with simply for other people.

Stayed Single. No children. Never smoked.
Philip Larkin was right.

Tried more art, musical instruments and theatre. My inhibitions held me back and I realise now it's all about the trying and experimenting not getting it right straightaway and worrying what people think of it.

I couldn't go back to my childhood or early teenage years because I hated being treated like a child even when I was one! The lack of control over my life would be too horrible.

I'd go to age 16, perform better in job interviews without all the shyness and self-loathing, and start studying with the Open University while it was still cheap. That would lead to a very different timeline.

Failing that, I'd leave a certain job that I was unhappy at much earlier, because I wouldn't have the terror that I was worthless and nobody else would hire me.

I'd start exercising earlier, since I now know that not every physical activity is embarrassing and unpleasant like school PE.

Travelled and lived in Europe while we still could . Definitely Italy, France and Netherlands.
One thing I did do right though was buy a house early and go to uni in my 30s not straight from school..

I'd have been more persistent with my parents about taking music lessons. Would've liked to learn but they said no.

I would not have married someone 14 years older than me.
He's in his 60's now. I am young for my age & he is old for his.
The age gap is too vast.

I was mean to a girl in my class when we were all around 15/16. It wasn't ongoing bullying but more one nasty event that set off a bit of a bomb in our friendship group.

It was awful of me.

I still think about it all the time and wish I could make it up to her - and I still can't figure out WHY I did it. It's so far from who I am now - if my current friends found out they'd be really surprised.

But I do wonder if that event also led to me now being the kind of person who wouldn't dream of doing it - so there's perhaps a bit of a catch-22 there.

I would have learnt to ask for advice/help when I needed it. I still struggle but there are multiple points, particularly at university and in job/experience searching at the start where if I hadn't been so proud and asked for help when I needed it I might have got off to a better start and not stalled as I did. I've never really managed to get my career off the ground and it's.my biggest frustration even 10years later.... And I still don't ask for help