Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Question of the Day #139

Rosidah posed a thought provoking question. If you could go back in time, is there anything you would change and why?

I think this somehow ties into Greg C's question about destiny and whether or not we chose our own paths. My gut answer is no, I wouldn't change anything, because my experiences led me here. As negative as some of them might have been, they formed the person I am. And I'm pretty happy being me.

Sure, I've made mistakes. Some pretty ugly big ones that are sooo not bloggable. But I've learned from them. I've felt the impact of the mistakes and I make conscious efforts not to repeat them. And I have to wonder who I'd be if I hadn't made them and learned from them.

I'm getting all sorts of philosophical and I'm not sure I'm even fully awake yet.

So, back to the question, if you could go back in time, is there anything you would change and why?

xoxo,
Suzanne

15 comments:

  1. Besides every time I accidentally posted here from the wrong account? I would have had a tubal ligation during my second cesarean. Other than that, no. Everything that has happened to me, good and bad has led me to where I am today and I'm very happy to be here.

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  2. I have to agree with you Suzanne, the choices I've made, good and bad, have led me to where I am and what I am today and I don't think that's necessarily bad.

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  3. I'd be afraid to mess with too much...I might make a few minor changes, but really I like where I am now!

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  4. I'm with you on this one. Despite the mistakes, I wouldn't want to mess with anything. Even a small change can lead you on a very different path.

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  5. I agree with everyone else. I have made some big mistakes and have done some things I'm not proud of but I would never change the past. It brought me to my daughter.

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  6. I feel very blessed with today's life and believe that learning from our mistakes transforms us into better persons, but if I could go back in time there were a few things I would like to do:
    - Spending more time with my beloved family and friends who have passed away by now.
    - When I still was in Germany, my fifth grade classmates had given me a farewell party and I received a wonderful map full of notes, souvenirs and contact addresses. It got lost in our boxes shipment. If I knew about that I would have brought this special map with me on the plane. Just recently I was able to get in touch again with some of my friends through stayfriends.de, but there are still a lot of contacts missing.
    - I would have told my parents to take more photos for some sweet memories... or in a "Back to The Future" kind of sense, I would have equipped them and mini-me with a more high tech camera. A lot of our photos are blurred or lost now.
    - My soulmate turned out to be my senior high school friend. Back then, I wasn't aware of the upcoming future. Although I know everything has its perfect timing and place, I might have married him sooner ;).

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  7. I adore my family, where we live, much of my past but I would have majored in something else in college. Odd but I totally despise my career choice. I'm working on trying to redirect myself.

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  8. I agree with the majority here. Our mistakes help to make us who we are. I am happy to be me:)

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  9. Wow, you guys are good. I think I would change a lot of things. For starters, I wouldn't have been such a goody goody. I always thought that if you follow the rules, do as you're told, and are a genuinely good person, good things will happen to you - not true. And I would have gone to the college of my choice, I still can't walk/drive by Boston College without getting upset.

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  10. Now I truly LOVE my Emerson family and don't know what I'd do without them, but I always wanted to go to BC and I still remember the day I got that acceptance letter!!

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  11. While there are things I wish I did differently, I wouldn't want to change them since every little thing--whether I was in high school, college or later on--every adjustment would alter the course of my life as it is now. No way am I giving up my kids. I'll live with my choices. Great question!

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  12. There is one thing that I would change if I could change just one thing. However I can't be totally up front about it here in blogville. It was a time when I did the right thing, expecting someone else to be doing the right thing and then later I found out that they didn't do the right thing. I passed up an offer that I deep down wanted to take. I am sure this made no sense at all but to me it does. It is a regret that I will have to live with.

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  13. Would love to erase some of my dating mishaps, but then again, I wouldn't have lived AND learned!

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  14. I think the hardest thing about this question is that for a lot of mistakes it wasn't one decision, but a path to that decision that may not be able to be changed. Like being a goody-goody, or falling for the wrong person, or making a different career choice. If you have a mistake like that, can you go back in time and change who you were or how you felt? (Though if you can, sure I've got a change.) And then you have to worry about how that would change your life today. (Oooh, now harder to know.)

    I do have one decision that probably wouldn't impact anything in my current life except to make me feel better. My best high school friend was getting married while I was in college and asked me to be in the wedding. I said yes, but then came to point where I had outgrown her. I changed my mind and went to family event instead. It was selfish and immature and I've always felt bad about it.

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  15. I would have changed a lot....My choice in college, my major, my partying, probably wouldn't have lived in LA so long, but that is all in the past now. Suzanne's mom said to pedal forward, make progress and challenge yourself. I couldn't agree more...

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