What do you wish you had known when you were 20?

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I would have told myself not to worry what others think, also I would have said try and go back to school or join the armed forces, and take every opportunity to travel.
 
I wish id known to eat healthier and make better habits. Also wish i knew mentally how to deal with my issues, still not completely past them but a LOT better than when i was in my twenties.Also wish i knew how lousy my "friends" were back then i coulda skipped all that entirely and wouldntve missed a thing truthfully except the headaches.
 
An awful lot was going on when I was 20. I was just a different person altogether at that time.

I would definitely take great advantage to take my 31 year old mind, and go back to my 20 year old self in that space time.
 
I wouldn't have started drinking, so I wouldn't have had to quit, eventually. I'd have invested in a more practical college education, one that brought a good income. I'd have started a family of my own.
 
I would NOT have started my phase with marijuana. It led to a lot of wasted time, well, being wasted. I wish I would have known that it would not have helped me become a creative person and that the only real way to do that is to just sit down and work on whatever I wanted to do. Then again, while I feel that I didn't get anything out of it, without marijuana, I don't know if I would have tried psychedelics - which I do believe to have intellectual, creative, and therapeutic, mind-cleansing value. I guess all in all, it was good to try it once, satisfy my curiosity and catalog the experience, but I wouldn't have stayed with it for as long as I did.

Though I really enjoyed it, I would NOT have gotten a flashy car back then, as it was really too expensive for me to own and maintain. I thought I could, but I really couldn't afford it. Not only that but it was all but undriveable if there was any snow on the road. Even rain made driving more stressful than it needed to be. It was/is a good car, especially on nice days. But I got it at the wrong time in life.

I would NOT have wasted so much time complaining about politics, the government, the 1%, fraternity "bros", and any other people that I always ranted about, bringing everyone else around me down for essentially no reason. I wouldn't have complained so hard about the various bills I had to pay, would not have gone off on tangents about how they are the Man keeping me down, and stuff like that. Though I complained a lot, I never actually did anything about it or was ever in a position to do anything about it anyway. And with most of these things, if I just focused on improving my own life instead of complaining, then the problems these groups caused me would go away and I wouldn't have to worry about them anymore.

I would NOT have wasted so much time getting in arguments with my parents and getting everyone upset over essentially nothing.

I would have done more college and career research, and made better choices as to where to attend and when, as well as what I wanted to do. I would have used the college career research centers more. I would DEFINITELY have tried harder to get an internship somewhere, as they give you valuable job experience that can be hard to get otherwise.

I would have been more careful in how I spent my time. Sometimes, I'd go out when I didn't feel like it, or when it was really too late to start the night and I should have just gone home. Or I'd go from friend's house to friend's house in search of something to do, or more like, putting off the serious thinking I needed to do to work on my life. Many times, I stayed up late hanging out with people and talking about essentially nothing. It was nice being with friends but I can't remember what was said. And it affected me the next day, because if I stayed up until 4 AM, I wouldn't wake up until the afternoon. I would also have made it a point to get into the habit of getting up early.

I would have read a lot more books and listened to a lot more music.

I would have spent some more time getting to know myself and figuring out just what it is I want from life anyway. Where I want to visit. What I'd like to try. What I want to experience.

I would have kept drawing, maybe taken lessons. I would have started playing guitar then, and not listened to the voice in my head that was saying it was already too late. I'd have had years under my belt now if I'd only just done it.

I would have stayed in shape, ran, biked, lifted weights. I would have made my health a priority.

I would have played with my dog more, gone for more walks with him, taught him more tricks :)
 
Less naive, more balls or guts to have boundaries set for myself and understanding that it is okay to say "No".
 
ladyforsaken said:
Less naive, more balls or guts to have boundaries set for myself and understanding that it is okay to say "No".

Ironically, I've never had problem saying NO ~ and I'm still 20. :p
 
Don't quit university just because of stress and anxiety. Admit that the anxiety was the problem. No it wasn't too much math, no it wasn't boring, no it wasn't the wrong degree program. Yes you will spend the next 10 years treading water and hating yourself for it.
 

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