I’m in my 40s, married, have a good job, and one DD. I’m happy and content. However, I often beat myself up about things in the past - how I wasted time career wise, how I should’ve travelled more, how I should’ve addressed being overweight sooner and the opportunities I missed because I didn’t, how I should’ve saved more money.
A few weeks ago, I bumped into a man in a pub who I’d been friends with years ago. To be honest, he’s a bit of an idiot, pleasant enough but quite lairy when he’s had a drink, very much of the “football, beers, boobs” lads lads lads type of bloke. He’s never really changed.
We got talking, and I told him what I was doing. I‘d had a few, and I also said I was a bit embarrassed and regretful of some of the time I’d spent pissing around in my 20s, when I could’ve been pursuing my career more or saving. Then he said:
”I wouldn’t beat yourself up about it. Every decision you took then put you on the path to where you are today”
I can’t explain it but it was such a weirdly out of character, and although it’s cheesy, he had a point - if I hadn’t wasted time in my 20s, my life might not be what it is today. It’s actually made me think about it completely differently.
Have you ever had wisdom or good advice from an unlikely source?