IF YOU COULD LIVE YOUR LIFE OVER, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

Would you change anything?

i would worry a whole lot less.
I would be much more patient with my children
I would be less fussy about housekeeping.

How about you?

Nothing. I like my life with all its past mistakes.

Unless I went into it knowing all that I have learned over the years, I would probably make the same mistakes I made before. But what would be the fun in that?

A few days ago, I was in Houston, in my sister-in-law's kitchen, helping to prepare some food for guests who were stopping by. I told her and several old friends that I had finally learned to clean the kitchen as I went along, so that it was easier to deal with after. She and our old friends all reminded me that I had not been not in a position to have the luxury of time in those days, as a single, working parent of three.

Our lives happen. These days, I find myself choosing to focus on the good stuff.

Quote :

...a wrong choice isn't necessarily a bad choice.
You married the wrong man. Bacame a teacher instead of a country and western singer. You didn't finish college, join the Peace Corps, or move to New York. If you had, your life would have been different, but not necessarily better. That's because we, not our outer circumstances, are the catalysts for the quality of our lives. Not then. Not now. Not ever. (Sarah Ban Breathnach, Something More.)

I bolded the sentence because the author had already used italics.

Ann

Shelagh,

I love your humor.

Ann,

I love your philosophy.

By the way it has to be knowing what you know now.

My deodorant.

Abe,

That's easy!

Many years ago I was attending an al anon meeting where one of the other women was 86 years of age. Her son, afflicted with the disease of alcoholism still resided with her. To cope with that situation, she attended al anon meetings, a wonderful 12 step program with a self-analysis focus rather than a focus on the person with the disease.

The point of all this is that we had a discussion about what we would change in our past and I never forgot what she said, "We always set out to make the best decision with the information at hand. We don't start each day and say to ourselves, "Well, today I am going to make all wrong decisions." Instead, we look back with new information and analyze what was a good decision at the time as wrong because the information we had for the decision-making process was incomplete or untimely or surrounded with circumstances beyond our control.

I agree that I have always chosen to make the best decision for the circumstances at hand. Therefore, I wouldn't be able to change anything since each decision sets up new challenges and possibilities that were not there before. Yes, there are times I wish this and wish that; but it's a foolish waste of time. I lived my life as the circumstances dictated. I yelled at my children when pressed to the limits of patience; I fussed over the house never being tidy enough; I worried myself into chronic migraines. At the same time, I did a whole lot of other things right such as unconditional love, laughter, good times and support to my spouse and children when they needed it. Can't trade off one in exchange for the other; it was a "mixed bag."

Good perspective, DK. Thanks.

What Alice said, DK.

Ann

It depends on whether we retain our knowledge of what happend the first time round Alice.
If we start again with our minds wiped clean we are destined to make the same mistakes.
Oh for a time machine so I could go back and give myself the winning lottery numbers.

David,

I like the way you think.

1/8/2011

Alice..

Knowing what I know now at my age, I would have
done things completely different. Then again at a young
age we don't have the knowledge or life experiences...


Cheers..Joe

Joe,

Then you wouldn't be you. I am glad you didn't do everything differently. We are glad you are the way you are.

Unselfish,caring, etc.

1/8/2011

Alice...


" Thank You !"


Cheers...Joe

If at all possible? I would try and change what my wife and sisters lived.. and I would have gone farther in school then the 6th grade.. I guess you can not change the things you have no controll of.. I would live some place warmer. That I can change.. it's -6 degrees tonight...

Virgil,

I hope you have a great furnace.

I've been asked this before ... I wouldn't change a thing.

One can't change the past.
And there is no guarantee that doing things different would have a better outcome anyway.

Most of all, I LIKE my life right now. I like who I am. I like my job. I LOVE my family. I wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's.

And how did I get to this point? By living my life exactly the way I did.

Nope, would not change a thing.

The good was good. And the bad made me wiser and stronger.

JoElle,

Congratulations on a life well-lived.
I like the way you talk.
You are full of sense, good sense.

We are a lucky bunch of people-- very few regrets.

Thanks, All.

Well, it depends on the time of day. :-)

dkchristi wrote:

Well, it depends on the time of day. :-)

Which time of day is the worst?

That was sort of a metaphor. Every once in awhile I'll remember choice points in my life and think, "what if." Those are fleeting at best...

By the way, one of the great things about writing is that you can take the "what if's" and turn them into somebody's story!

DK,


Great idea!

I would have voted for Hubert Humphrey instead of Richard Nixon.
How about that?