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what??

(61 Posts)
travelsafar Thu 28-Dec-17 19:31:00

I was listening to Woman's Hour very briefly this morning just before going out.

A question was asked, 'what advise would you give to your younger self if you could go back in time'.

I have thought about this all day and find it almost impossible to answer as so many things happened while i was young that i would like to change.

Have you any advise you would give yourself?

BRedhead59 Fri 29-Dec-17 12:27:28

..and another
Listen to those who tell you "yes you can" not to those who say "you're not good enough" and then play it forward.

Harmonygranny Fri 29-Dec-17 12:32:31

I'd advise myself to try not to be so self centred, and be kinder to others. I think however that many of us evolve as we age and it's never too late to start again!?

maryhoffman37 Fri 29-Dec-17 12:36:48

Accept my place at York and not go to Cambridge because I thought it would be so much better.

annodomini Fri 29-Dec-17 12:57:36

Don't agree to marry the man before you have met the parents. hmm

dogsmother Fri 29-Dec-17 13:04:58

Take much better care of your teeth!!

Blinko Fri 29-Dec-17 13:14:14

To devote my energies to being kinder, and not necessarily smarter. I think on occasion over the years, I've got those two in the wrong order. [Rueful button, please]

Horatia Fri 29-Dec-17 13:20:56

Annodomini. I agree with you. Also when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Legs55 Fri 29-Dec-17 13:46:42

I look back on my choices, maybe with hindsight I could have done things differently, but if I hadn't made the choices I did I wouldn't have my DD & DGSs, wouldn't have met my wonderful DH & now as a widow living close to DD, new area, new friends, exciting new life.

I probably wouldn't have listened to "my advice" when I was youngertchblush

Andyf Fri 29-Dec-17 13:56:29

Don't waste so much time and effort trying to help people who won't try to help themselves.

Yogadatti Fri 29-Dec-17 13:59:15

I would Advise myself to do EVERYTHING differently, every decision I have made I regret. I have not had a happy life in any respect.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Fri 29-Dec-17 14:08:33

I would have told myself to pay more attention at maths as it would be very useful.
Just because you are quiet it doesn't mean that you are worth less than a noisy person.
Don't feel ugly, one day hair like yours will be all the rage.
I would have liked to have learnt the art of small talk and diplomacy - and just because you have an opinion sometimes it's better to keep it to yourself.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Fri 29-Dec-17 14:19:20

I would also add don't worry so much - many things aren't worth worrying about and you often can't change them anyway.
Many of the biggest challenges you face will be things to which you rarely gave a second thought.
It's not necessarily what happens to you that counts - it's how you deal with them up here (taps forehead) that makes all the difference.

sue421 Fri 29-Dec-17 14:25:01

Study more at school and be confident that you can achieve your dream.....to others I am sure they think I have had a good career but.....the if onlys have kicked in atv66 years old!

TillyWhiz Fri 29-Dec-17 14:26:16

krazykat - at one with you there!

Minerva Fri 29-Dec-17 14:32:57

I’d have said to myself as a teenager in bobby socks in convent school at 18, if your mother won’t/can’t tell you about the birds and the bees find, beg, someone who will.

Jane43 Fri 29-Dec-17 15:01:12

The same as mollie but in different words: ‘if you spend all your time trying to please everybody you’ll end up pleasing nobody.’

Nanna58 Fri 29-Dec-17 15:08:59

I'd say for crying out loud don't spend so much time on bloody housework!!!

MaggieMay69 Fri 29-Dec-17 15:29:30

I cannot say, because any choice I would have made might have meant I no longer had my beautiful daughter and DGC, so, I wouldn't change a thing, despite some of the horrors I lived through!
The only advice I would give is to don't sweat the petty stuff, and don't pet the sweaty stuff!

quizqueen Fri 29-Dec-17 15:31:21

I would have advised myself to train for more than one career (always wanted to work in a library as well as being a teacher), to buy lots of properties when they were dirt cheap which I could have rented out for my pension fund, to divorce earlier and look for a second relationship which was better than the first.

Elrel Fri 29-Dec-17 15:48:09

School - I needed to ask when I didn’t understand, not to give up. I needed to be taught how to learn, everything had come so easily in primary school.
Home - My father deserved far more love and respect; my mother was not, as I thought, always right.

LuckyFour Fri 29-Dec-17 17:05:38

I would tel myself not to be in such a hurry to get married and have children. I've been happily married for 50 years so turned out ok, but I should have got to know myself better before I tied myself to one person.

Samie Fri 29-Dec-17 17:52:07

Like others - should have made more effort to follow my heart and wish I'd known that some people do inherit their parents' behaviours

Today I tend not to worry too much what others think, but back in those days I did worry and did what I thought I ought to do and not what I wanted to do

Maggiemaybe Fri 29-Dec-17 18:01:37

I wouldn't change a thing, so I'd let my younger self go happily blundering on. smile

Except....I'd have picked unlucky 13 over my birthday number the day we got the five Lotto numbers back in 1994. The £1200 was very nice, but the £3 million might have been even better!

kwest Fri 29-Dec-17 18:10:52

I would ask my younger self to try to always be kind. What goes around comes around. Be true to myself, I am good enough, I don't have to impress anyone. Don't sweat the small stuff and it is nearly all small stuff.

kwest Fri 29-Dec-17 18:10:52

I would ask my younger self to try to always be kind. What goes around comes around. Be true to myself, I am good enough, I don't have to impress anyone. Don't sweat the small stuff and it is nearly all small stuff.