Things you wish you knew when you were young?

1 Hello everyone,

This sounds like an interesting thread. I will start. I wish I had more faith in myself and in my ability to be successful on my own. How about you?
The power of compound interest, and that I should start thinking about my retirement even at age 20.

I wish I had understood that even though I had no self-confidence and low self-esteem all my life, that things would turn around in my 50s and I would become self-assured and wise. I had no idea that age and experience would straighten things out. I spent a lot of years feeling small and depressed. (Of course, the meds help )

That I'd herniate nearly all the discs in my lumbar spine when I was old for no apparent reason. Would have been nice to have a heads up on that...

That girls were not more important than homework!

When you're drinking and tryin to see who can muddy up the 4-wheeler the most, and you hear your'buddy say "Check this out"...GET THE HELL OUTA THE WAY!

That being a grandma is the greatest thing in the world and that I would love being in my sixties and being retired. When I was growing up in the 60s during the youth culture I was told that being old was worse than being dead. ie "hope I die before I get old". I would tell the guy that wrote that how crazy and wrong he was.

Karma is verrrry entertaining to watch as it plays out

I wish I'd known how to stand up for myself and what I wanted. I passed up on some terrific opportunities because I allowed others to manipulate me into feeling unsure and selfish. Now I wish I could go back and shove the unaccountably missing backbone into my 17-year-old self so that I could reclaim those chances. I'm still not the greatest at standing up for myself, but I've at least learned how to spot subtle manipulation and how to call people on BS moves or irrational positions in a lot of situations. Oh, I'd also go back and tell my spouse's younger self to maintain his health insurance, no matter what! COBRA's a lot cheaper than a medical bill bankruptcy in the long run.

i would have told my best friend not to do his newspaper route that day (rip mark). i wouldnt have let foolish pride and being a hardass in front of my highschool friends spit me and my 1st true love up..dang elizabeth. i figure if i could get those two thing back on a do over that would be enough.

... I wish that I would have listened to my dad when I was a kid and went to nursing school at 18.

Quote from mjmoon... I wish that I would have listened to my dad when I was a kid and went to nursing school at 18.

That caring for yourself is just as important as taking care of everyone else...if you allow yourself get worn down to nothing-that's it! Anyone who does not have time for stress management: diet, exercise, yoga, etc REALLY, REALLY NEEDS IT.