If I had my life to do all over again...

[WWJD]

Warning deep thoughts ahead. Click BACK now if you are looking for jokes or pictures of Anna K.

Q1. If you had your life to do over again, what would you do different, if anything?

Q2. RIGHT NOW, what is keeping you from being in THAT life here, today now?


If either answer has to do with money, you are focusing on the wrong things in life and you might as well click BACK to another 300 thread.

No seriously. What do you wish you were doing in life right now that you are not? And is there REALLY anything REAL keeping you from doing some or part of that? By real I mean REAL like "I can't race an F1 car because I recently passed away and can't DO much of anything now"

Are your obsitcles REAL or fabricated walls that need torn down by your own initiative, or with support from others encouraging you on? I think most, if not ALL obsticles are self inflicted. Zig Ziglar, Tom Peters and all those other self help gurus talk about going nowhere because you lack a specific direction to go.

So, how about it? Who do you want to be, and why are you NOT being that? What can be done to change that?

Come on, lets hear the lost dreams.... the squashed amibtions... the ships that didn't come in!

Maybe others here can recommend alternate paths or places to assist being the person you regret that you aren't.

======================================

I'll start.

Music is my love. Completing a song is the most spiritually fulfilling thing I've ever experienced mortally [I don't have any children] and they are like my children that I raise. Music being my first love, all girlfriends were more like mistresses - which was okay

Am I doing music now? ... nOO.... Why not? I dunno.... work... time... people... work... blah blah blah

I own a freaking recording studio - pretty much, my "apartment" is not normal: no entertainment center, just recording studio.

Music and I had a falling out a few years back - a Divorce actually - but, she will always call me until the day I die. If I can't be with her, my soul wilts a little more every day I'm breathing.

Enough. I'm plugging in the equipment, emmersing myself in the new technology, and pondering writing ideas again.

Can't tell you why I haven't done it until now - my old job really was quit the brain drain. but I'm flowing free now and everything is coming back from a sleep.

We'll see where it goes, but it is already better than not being who I really should be.


Hope this helps someone. Sometimes a little inspiration is all it takes

 

[Wag]

I'm happy. I'm doing all the things I've ever wanted to do or they are scheduled, with dates!

One exception. I've always wanted to go sky-diving but keep chickening out!

--Wag--

 

[WWJD]

(Wag @ May 09 2007,20:07) I'm happy. I'm doing all the things I've ever wanted to do or they are scheduled, with dates!

One exception. I've always wanted to go sky-diving but keep chickening out!

--Wag--

I've done 16 jumps! I highly, HIGHLY recommend it! it has nothing to do with heights - trust me. What part of chicken holds you back? DO IT! This summer. And pay the extra 40 for the video guy to jump with you. I'm thinking about going again this summer - it's been a while, but it was one of the best times of my whole life. And post picks here. I'll be waiting!

 

[Wag]

It won't be this summer. A) I have too many other commitments and B) I need to take some weight off first.

But I'll get it done!

--Wag--

 

[Revvv]

Could my life be vastly different if different choices had been made? Of course it could.

There's no way for me to look back and see what choices in life would have made things different or better.
Don't get me wrong, I would work harder in School if I could do all things over again, but all in all, most of my decisions make me who I am today.
Do I have regrets? Yes. Those regrets are still what make me the person I am today.

I am me because of the choices I have made. If I had made different choices I would still wonder how life could be different if different choices were made. It's that, "The grass is always greener on the other side" syndrome.

 

[thrasherfox]

hmmm. This is a question that I have very often thought of..


I would have to start with I love my family more than anything, they come only second to the God that I serve (or try to)

So with that in mind, if I would have done ANYTHING different, I might have changed who I would have married, which would have changed the children I have and I cannot see myself with any other woman than my wife nor can I see myself with any other children than the sons I have.


I guess the one nagging thing that I often think of is I wish I had been and were a better person.

I wish a lot of the bad things I have done in my life I had never done. and I wish my mind wasn't so warped with the things I have done in my life where as I constantly have demons in my head I fight on a daily basis.

I wish... I could look at the world through more innocent eyes. I wish I wasn't constantly on guard everywhere I go with everyone I meet.

But then I think that maybe, the way I am is what has kept my family safe, maybe the way I am helps in appreciating who my sons are, maybe what I have been through is the reason I apprecieate my wife.. my family... and my life in general..

So it is a tough call.. but I guess when it is done and said, for the most part I like who I am, I think I am a decent father and while there are better husbands out there than me, I know there are a lot worse. and all the crap I have been through in my life.. good and bad is what has made me who I am today.... and while I wish sometimes I could change who I was... I am ok now with who I am.. and who I was is what has made me who I am...


And in the end, we cant change the past, but we can use the past to mold our future..... so why dwell on the past to the point of discouragement or sadness for what one didnt do.... use the rest of the time to do what you wished you had done...

 

[DaCol.]

Q1 : I would try NOT to get shot  

as many times again

       Nothing else, because I love being ME  

Q2 : Well

I'am still kinda in my old life and THANK GOD  

, I'am NOT   getting shot or shot at as much

 

[fasttoys1]

Well, it's mid-night at the fire sta. been here for 41hrs., 7 to go, so I hope this makes some sense.

I've often said I wish I hadn't partied so much when I was younger. But I often think if I hadn't lived my life the way I did I wouldn't be the person I am today. Which is much different, much. Not too proud of some of the things I've done, but it helps me make better choices now I think, I hope. G/f thinks I'm alittle too, watchful, untrusting when we are out,bike weeks, ect.... I call it be prepared, ready cause I was that a$$. Some would say I still am.

I've done about everything I could imagine. I've taken every high-risk job I could find to get a rush. Then I settled a bit. But there has been something still missing.

The only problem is now we are thinking of building a house and she has 3 children. And I have come to the realization that the couple of track days I did when I was young and the way I ride sometimes are linked. She thinks doing a few more track days would be good for me but I know how addictive and expensive a habit it can be. Getting stove-up does not really bother me that much, sometimes you pay when you play. But I do have others to think of, them, parents, my career, retirement.

I would actually like to do some club racing and that would be where track days lead. Fate is going to catch up with me touching-a-knee on the streets at sometime. It isn't the best idea, sometimes I'll drive 45 min. to hit my favorite road.

Guess I'm trying to figure out how to balance it all. There is an answer I just haven't got there yet. It's the only real thing I have left I'ld like to do for awhile, I'm not getting any younger. And the last opps took awhile to heal. It just doesn't feel like it's fair to them. But there is a need for speed that is best taken to a safer place. I think I know what I should, or in this case shouldn't do. But the thought of regretting it later weighs very heavy on my mind.


WWJD I don't know if this is quite what you were taking about. But I am glad you brought it up. It has been eating away at me for awile now. I guess a little vent maybe good for the soul. Maybe for my mind too.

Ps feel like I'm writing to Dear Abbie, Dear WWJD, blah, blah, blah. sincerly, Can't slow the f*** down



Rev & fox read yours after I finished this. Diddo. Glad to know it's not just me.

 

[fasttoys1]

(DaCol. @ May 09 2007,21:44) Q1 : I would try NOT to get shot  

as many times again

       Nothing else, because I love being ME  

Q2 : Well

I'am still kinda in my old life and THANK GOD  

, I'am NOT   getting shot or shot at as much

Well I thank you for you choices. And I'm glad your not getting shot any more either.

 

[Jet Li]

Q1: If I had my life to do over agian, I would be a more assertive youth, not fear my father (adoptive father that is), and go in the direction I wanted. I was adopted at the age of 2, and while I certainly count my blessings.......growing up as an orphan in the Philippines holds scant possibilities..........I wish I had been more proactive in steering my future. I am what I am today because I was pushed in that direction, I mean pushed hard. I do what I do because that is what I was groomed for. The real me would have gone in the direction of sports (football, adventure racing, maybe even bodybuilding). But my father never supported my sports involvement. I literally had friends take me to football practice, I played from pee wee through high school and Dad only attended games until about 1/2 way through middle school. I know now that I was seeking approval and academics was the only way I was gonna get it. Funny thing is after all his pushing, he never got to see his end product. Funny, how life twists things. So, If I had it to do all over again, I would be an athlete.

Q2: Well, at 40 years old but with the knees of a 60 year old (too many heavy squats and waaaaaaaaayy to low) lots of running is out of my realm. I think what I really desire is to just retire and move back to the coast where I grew up, surf and ride my bicycle everyday. I love to watch the sun set over the horizon as it traces a golden zig zag over the surface of the ocean. I crave the solitude of those slightly breezy beach mornings, faint warmness of the rising sun on my face, and the sound of gulls off in the distance. I have a plan to get there and before I am 45, by God, this will happen and I will finally have no regrets because now, at this moment, I regret my childhood.

 

[warwgn]

Q1.I would have run over my ex-wife with the truck, before she took my son to australia and said it was an accident. Then I would have him with me now instead of just phone calls.

Q2. I dont have enough money to get a lawyer and go through all the process to get a custody hearing. I dont have enough money to fly him over here or me over there. In all reality the chance of getting some sort of joint custody where he live with me half the time is impossible due to school schedules. They have year round school down there so he can be here for very long cause he would have to be back for school. The other option would be have him live with me during school then with his mom during summer break, 2 1/2 monthas out of 12, the mean old bitch would never agree to that

Yep I wish I had just run her over with the truck

 

[VaBusa]

1.  I find that I regret leaving VT early and not sticking with it...I did graduate from another university years later, but I often wished I'd stayed there and finished up the program I was in OR I wish I had gone to vet school (again, at VT)...I ended up with a B.S. in economics

 Why?  Not sure...

2.  My life is good now, great job, wonderful kids...I don't feel the need to change my path in life at this point...kind of thought I did that when I had my first son, then opted to buy a motorcycle

 

[WWJD]

I feel like I could have done a BAZILLION different things. But, I've grown to realize there is not enough time to do them all. Yes, I truly still want to be an astronaught. Will it happen? No. I choose to pursue creating music instead of the rigorous training and education. And a million other choices.

What I'm proposing through all of this is taking hold of the NOW and facing up to what can and can't be done - and because many things are really out of our grasp, it is nothing to worry about, be a shamed of regret in anyway. Like someone mentioned, you can't change the past - so why worry about it at all anymore? It built it's character in you and moved on.

Over time I have experienced the joys of watching friends and associates achieve some of there personal life long wishes... Kem builds sail boats by hand, John bought a Cessna, Jim became a track addict, I build my own studio and a bunch of other stuff. Few things are more satisfying than watching another's success over time. Sharing the joy with them.

Like I said, OTHER THAN MONEY, there are realistic solutions for everything, depending on perspective.

Is the result YOU want, truly the BEST answer for everyone involved or is it what YOU wish as teh best for you? Perhaps there are alternatives. Instead of a astronaught, I could pursue a pilots liscence --- Actually, I just talked to my buddy about that. instead of pursuing a pilot license, all I want to do is fly... so, I pay my buddy with the plane half the expense of the flight for us to go joy riding. He gets to log flight time at half cost, I get to rent a plane at half cost, we both get to enjoy our interests as opposed to NOT enjoying them. He flys and I talk into the headset like we are on a space shuttle mission. It's win win

All you guys have opened up about a lot of good stuff here. It is refreshing. People need to talk about this stuff more - or vent and share.

Now that it is down in black and white, what can you do about it?

 

[thesnake]

Nothing. Life is what it is. If I really want something, I do/or get it. Sometimes it ain't smart, sometimes it is, but that's my personality and I wouldn't change or second guess myself for anything. When it's all said and done as snake says goodbye, I've no regrets nor gas in the tank. That much is for sure.