Another question

[sleigh]

I'm finding that asking questions and hearing the answers is a lot more interesting than me just nattering about things...

So here's another one -- and it's something that I think occurs to us as we grow older. Do have any regrets? Is there something you wish you'd have done earlier in life?

Here's mine: I wish I'd been more serious about music back when I was trying to be a full-time musician. I was too much a dilettante, and I didn't learn anywhere near as much as I should have.

Comments

Decision branches

[barondave.livejournal.com]

That's a difficult question to answer with any sort of definitive response. Anything I might have done differently would have led me on a path where I'd have been confronted with completely different decision branches.

I've often thought that if I had been about 10% more bold with women, my life would be very different. Not necessarily better, but different.

Let's just say... my youth was insufficiently misspent; and, looking back, I could have been more directed in education and training along the way.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

I kind of wish we'd had one more kid (we have three fabulous children but I always have a vague hankering after a fourth).

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

I wish I'd learned how to fly a plane. I really like going fast and I'm also really good at it, and I'd also just like to know how and try it.

At some young age I learned the air force won't train pilots who don't have perfect vision. For some reason I concluded from that I would never be a pilot. I still kind of want to get lessons, but it's a different prospect now that Rosie's in the picture, even though I know intellectually that it's pretty safe. And of course my vision keeps getting worse/harder to correct.

Driving a racecar on a track would also be awfully cool.

[netmouse.livejournal.com]

Another regret, speaking of learning, was that I never actually put together the two model rocket kits I had as a kid, and therefore never really used the model rocket launchpad my dad made for me one year.

In general, I'm sorry I didn't push for dad to teach me more and do more with me. He had so many stories about what he'd done at a young age with his dad's tools (which included a metal lathe) and his dad's encouragement. I found out decades later that my mom pressed dad to back off from teaching is anything that could be dangerous, which is lame. I wonder if that was right after he taught me how to use the band saw, or what.

Anyway, I thing of that poor little launchpad with the long metal guide that slowly stopped being straight, and there's some bitter regret there. Possibly also because to this day I couldn't tell you why I never built those rockets. It feels... Complicated.

[aerohudson.livejournal.com]

I wish I would have taken writing more seriously at an earlier age. Creatively, the last eighteen months have been the most rewarding time in my life for me. It started when I finally made the decision to dedicate considerable time to writing fiction and learning how to do it. I've always been interested in pursuing writing fiction, but invariably, things got in the way. Now that I am approaching forty I think about how far I would be now if I would have made this decision ten years ago.

At the same time, maybe I needed time to marinate. Maybe I wasn't ready then. Maybe I am taking it more seriuously now and will see more success down the road because I am more passionate now. I will never know. All I can do is keep plugging away now and see where it takes me.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I don't have many regrets over things that I had any control over. (Not having a crazy mother would be nice, but I've never had the ability to change that.) I think maybe the thing I regret most is losing touch with too many people in the days before easy internet communications. I wish I'd been able to do more foreign traveling when I was younger, but that would have required more money and/or more time and I don't really regret the decisions that led to not having enough of those.