Youth is wasted on the young

[GoSeigen]

I feel like I spent my youth pretty well and have few regrets (not enough sex and started too late maybe), but perhaps my standards are too low...

If "Youth is wasted on the young", how was your youth misspent and what would you have done differently?

GS

[EssDeeAitch]

I would drink far less beer (a lot, lot less) and make an effort to get schooled beyond 16.

[bungeejumper]

Benefit of hindsight, and all that. But I spent too many teenage years worrying terribly about schoolwork that I simply wasn't cut out for - I've always been a lateral thinker, no good with structured learning at all .

The second happiest day of that period was when I crash-failed a few O levels, so that I was finally free to focus on the things I was good at. And the happiest day? When I got my first motorbike at sixteen, of course. Which in turn brought girls into range and reach. No looking back after that.

BJ

[sg31]

I had a blast. I wouldn't change a thing.

I just wish I'd known at the time what a great time I was having.

[UncleEbenezer]

Easy to say in hindsight. A few things I wouldn't have done ... and I'm not even going to touch on the personal life.

• Grow up with lower-middle-class expectations: be polite, don't ask but wait to be offered, ...
• Expect education and academic qualifications to get me anywhere.
• Graduate into a recession.
• Get a graduate job in London.
• Work hard for ungrateful employers who see "mug". In fact, work for any UK employer in the fields I did.
• Make futile attempts to save to buy a house.

[dealtn]

Actually make an effort at my County Football trial, not deliberately play badly so I could be with my mates at the weekend.

Doubt it would ever have made a difference, and the chances of being a pro would still be incredibly small, but I wouldn't have had the nagging doubt, and conviction I had been an idiot for 35 years.

I am happy with how my life turned out, and my sporting ambitions now are fulfilled greater than I ever expected with the position I have now reached off the field. Other than that I doubt I would change a thing.

[AsleepInYorkshire]

I wouldn't have bought so many carrots. I make sure that my daughter learns that.

Beware those who sell carrots for they have nothing more to offer and carrots don't pay the bills.

AiY

[UncleEbenezer]

I wouldn't have bought so many carrots. I make sure that my daughter learns that.

Beware those who sell carrots for they have nothing more to offer and carrots don't pay the bills.

AiY

Interesting thought: maybe I'd've bought more carrots?

They're a great ingredient for many dishes. Even more so for drinks, where they (like apples) mix well with more-or-less any other ingredients you care to juice. And they're cheaper than apples - which matters on a young person's budget!

[AleisterCrowley]

Well, I wish I'd known how quickly time passes when you get older. I would have used my time a bit better, rather than moping around thinking I had all the time in the world
Specifically;
I wish I'd travelled more when I had the opportunity
I wish I'd taken more risks
I wish I'd got married to my long-term girlfriend , and possibly had a few kids, rather than waiting until I felt financially secure. She left, and married somebody else. Then got divorced a few years later...
Smoking was a bad plan - I was a late starter (early 20s) but it took me until I was 50 to finally kick the habit

So, today I'm financially secure, on my own, it's grey and miserable, and it's Sunday. I feel like filling my pockets with rocks and jumping in the canal.
It's probably only 5 ft deep here so I'd just end up wet and looking stupid, as the ducks attack me.

I hate carrots by the way.

[Gersemi]

I wish I'd known at that it would all sort of work out OK.

I was pretty miserable as a clever kid at the local comprehensive school. I wondered what it would be like when I was grown up and knew what to do in every situation (at about age 20 I imagined). Of course that never happened, but I went to university, met a lot of people somewhat like me and never looked back.

[mark88man]

I had a blast. I wouldn't change a thing.

I just wish I'd known at the time what a great time I was having.

Great quote sg31 - I think the weight equivalent is I wish I'd known how thin I was when I thought I was fat.

That said, I think Aleister's comment is the funniest dark humour thing I have read in a long while. I wish I had more than 1 rec to give

Pretty much the same as everyone in terms of things done different. I rather drifted away from school and to some extent uni friends, as I got on with life. Its fun reconnecting now, but does seem like decades lost

[simsqu]

Gap year in America in the 70's, 18 years old, lodging in Baltimore, one very hot July evening, sharing a long cool drink in the room of a thirty something rather attractive fellow lodger, when she says, "my room is much cooler than your room, would you like to spend the night?", instead of saying "Oh well, gosh that's awfully nice of you but I'd better get back to my own room...", say "YES!!"

Son of a bitch

[Leothebear]

I bitterly regret the incident with my best friend's older sister. My donkey impersonation was a huge mistake.

[kiloran]

I wouldn't have bought so many carrots. I make sure that my daughter learns that.

Beware those who sell carrots for they have nothing more to offer and carrots don't pay the bills.

AiY

I assumed that you were referring to this (see 4m30s) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKMQKgSnGy8

--kiloran

[brightncheerful]

It's good to be young but better to be old and selling to them.

[brightncheerful]

I hate carrots by the way.

i eat 1.5kg carrots every week. Raw.

[UncleEbenezer]

I hate carrots by the way.

So we'd better apply the stick instead.

i eat 1.5kg carrots every week. Raw.

And your taxonomy?

[simsqu]

i eat 1.5kg carrots every week. Raw.

Huh. Well aren't you the hothouse flower. That's nothing. I eat 1.5kg of cucumbers every day. Raw. That's right. You heard me. Stone cold, spit in your face, cut off me legs and call me shorty, RAW.

Because that's what real men do.

1.5kg carrots a week. Pah!