You wake up tomorrow morning and its your 18th birthday again.

[Chrisinmd]

You wake up tomorrow morning and its your 18th birthday again. What advice would you give to yourself on what you should do, not do, mistakes to avoid, risks you should be willing to take. etc. What would be your best words of wisdom you would give yourself?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Am I talking to my 18 year old self and giving him wisdom, or is my life resetting at 18?

 

[drop bear]

Do MMA.

 

[Cynik75]

Always have a condom in your wallet!!!

 

[jobo]

treat women like libary books, look after them , enjoy them, then give them back and get another one,

they are not the same as motorbikes, you shouldnt get over attached

 

[_Simon_]

"You'll be okay.

Let go.

It's okay, you can relax.

Trust.

Follow your heart."

 

[dvcochran]

18, hmmm. Don't cover the A gap leading with my head while playing football! The collision was so hard it cracked the shell of my helmet and I was knocked smooth out. My 2nd concussion and a serious neck stinger.

Yes, yes, yes buy Amazon & Google stock!!!!!

Move this question forward 20 years to when I was 38 and it would be do not take the drive to the meeting in Clarksville, TN on 12/21.

We all have regrets and bad things happen. These are the things that should form and define us. But I use the term 'regret' sparingly. I love the Dave Ramsey phrase 'stupid tax'. We are not always fully responsible for many of the bad things that have happened to us. Responsible? Sure. So there are golden lessens to learn along the way if we have the good sense to see them and learn them.
But any of us could set around and 'what if' our life away. We could say 'what if' something had/had not happened or 'what if' so and so had done X my life would be different. I feel life moves Way too fast for this kind of thinking. X happened, move on. If you want to prevent X there were usually several steps that should have happened well before hand to prevent it, or at least change it. This is the maturation process we have to actively strive for.

Then there are things that are just unpreventable. Sheet happens. You have to realize and accept these events and not beat yourself up about the 'why'.
I got hit head on by a dump truck and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I am not mad at the driver and I do not dwell on the fact that it happened since I could have done nothing to avoid it. I look at it more from the standpoint of "I survived".
It forever changed my life but after years of repair and rehab I was able to get back to a very adjusted level of normal. It greatly changed me but it did not change the responsibilities I have to my family or the things I want to accomplish in my life.
It has been a big one but I had to suck it up and move on. Took a long time to figure out how to do that but I have not given up yet.

I doubt this is where the OP intended this thread to go but I hope it is a good message for someone out there. We are not guaranteed easy and should not expect it. Makes our lives much more exciting and satisfying if we go get life rather than have it given to us.

 

[Buka]

The eighteen year old me would thank the now me if I only told him...

How one gets Debbie Anne Miller into bed.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

buy Amazon & Google stock!!!!!

I would develop Amazon and Google myself.

I will sell Mike Jackson a new song "Billie Jean". I will also teach Mike Jackson how to do "moonwalk".

 

[Chrisinmd]

Move this question forward 20 years to when I was 38 and it would be do not take the drive to the meeting in Clarksville, TN on 12/21.

Why did you not want to drive to this meeting? Was this the drive where you got hit by the dump truck?

 

[dvcochran]

Why did you not want to drive to this meeting? Was this the drive where you got hit by the dump truck?

Yep.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Am I talking to my 18 year old self and giving him wisdom, or is my life resetting at 18?

If my life is resetting and I don't have the knowledge that I do now then I'm pretty screwed.
If I'm talking to my 18 year old self then I'm going to force him to train Jow Ga Kung Fu. My 18 year old self had a lot of free time.

 

[Buka]

There was a novel from the eighties, "Replay" by Ken Grimwood, which uses that exact premise. Guy dies of a heart attack in his late forties....and wakes up in his college dorm room at eighteen. And he remembers a whole lot of stuff that's going to happen in the ensuing years.

I've read it several times, and just bought it used on E-bay. Well written, really fun read. Can't wait to read it again.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Am I talking to my 18 year old self and giving him wisdom, or is my life resetting at 18?

Life is resetting with the wisdom you are telling your 18 year old self

 

[Chrisinmd]

I love the Dave Ramsey phrase 'stupid tax'. We are not always fully responsible for many of the bad things that have happened to us. Responsible? Sure. So there are golden lessens to learn along the way if we have the good sense to see them and learn them.

Yes Dave Ramsey stupid tax I have paid for more then a few times. I just try at this point in life just not to pay stupid tax on the same thing over and over again. Just pay it once and learn my lesson. Not always been good at that unfortunately.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Life is resetting with the wisdom you are telling your 18 year old self

Still confused. It's resetting,as in my current self is 18 with all my curreng knowledge, or I'm just telling wisdom to myself at 18?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Actually, either way it wouldn't really matter. I wouldn't want to either meet myself at 18 or restart life with my current knowledge. There are definitely things I would have done differently, but my life has gone pretty good and I wouldn't want to risk messing that up by changing stuff.

 

[Chrisinmd]

Still confused. It's resetting,as in my current self is 18 with all my curreng knowledge, or I'm just telling wisdom to myself at 18?

Your 18 year old self has none of your current knowledge. So your current age self needs to give your 18 year old self advice and wisdom you have learned over your lifetime. So your 18 year old self makes better choices and avoids mistakes you have made.

So what advice would you give your 18 year old self (with no knowledge of the future) to live their best life?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Your 18 year old self has none of your current knowledge. So your current age self needs to give your 18 year old self advice and wisdom you have learned over your lifetime. So your 18 year old self makes better choices and avoids mistakes you have made.

So what advice would you give your 18 year old self (with no knowledge of the future) to live their best life?

Okay, so I'm like a ghost giving advice to my 18 year old self. My answer remains mostly the same (I'm happy with my life, don't want to risk doing something to alter it by giving advice and potentially making it worse). The only two things I would do are encourage/force my friend Mark to get a second opinion on his neuro issues, and encourage my other friend Billy to A. lay off the alcohol after college, and B. don't ignore the cold he gets while going for his masters/decide seeing a doc can wait till morning, expecting it to go away. Whatever impact that might have, if I can get them to listen, it'll be worth it.

 

[Chrisinmd]

The eighteen year old me would thank the now me if I only told him...

How one gets Debbie Anne Miller into bed.

I think I'd go with the Japanese place down the road.

Oh yes I would have loved to have my current knowledge about women to get those high school and college women into bed. Didnt have the knowledge or confidence back then but with what I know now it would have been a party!