If you could restart your life, knowing what you know now, would you?

These kinds of questions hurt too much.

Sorry :-( It’s such a shame that we have to just blunder through life, making decisions without knowing the consequences. It’s a game, but we can’t save or restart, and it seems we only get one life.

Yes! Extra time is always a good thing. I’d sign up for vampirism if it was a real option.

Haha, well for me it’s less about the extra time than the opportunity to see what might have happened if I’d done things differently, but fair enough!

I’d just be happy if I could go back to before I met the Wicked Witch of the East whom I later (gasp!) married (but not for long!). Being able to start up there and knowing what I now know would make all the difference in the world!

I wouldn’t want to do it all over again, no.

Yes, I wish I had figured out a lot of things sooner.

Abso-freaking-lutely!!! :-/

Duh…...YES!

Nah, I’m done…..Time to sit in the shade and watch the birds….

This is a truly difficult question. I would like to have done some things differently, but there are some things, which depend wholly on those others, that would not have happened. That, I would not want.

On the whole, I would not wish for a restart.

I’m with you, @Hawaii_Jake. Tweaking the past would lead to some desirable new outcomes but also some undesirable ones as well. I’d rather stick to what’s been and what’s to come.

I’d definitely like a redo. And this from a person who is immensely satisfied with where I am now . . . there are just a few paths I’d like to retrace with the knowledge I now have. I don’t know that I would make a different decision; I’d simply make a more informed decision.

But to go back would mean I wouldn’t have the kids I have now.

On one hand, I’d love to not have made some mistakes that seem to have only made things more difficult, but on the other hand, I’d just make a new set of mistakes anyway. Also, I can’t imagine going through high school again. I quite liked high school, but it is not a place I would be thrilled to relive.

@Dutchess_III You need to go see About Time :)

Oh, yes.

I would love a do-over.

I’m tempted to say yes, and I probably would if the chance actually happened. Thing is I get to thinking, how different your life would be. It’s easy to think it would be better, there isn’t anything I can think of to suggest otherwise. But who knows…one’s experiences and all surely would not be the same though, and that’s what makes us what we are. But then, you could just get other experiences…and most importantly, fix or avoid all the stupid shit people often do to hurt themselves or others. But who says one wouldn’t keep unwillingly doing this?

Kind of reminds me of the Child’s Play movies. If Chucky had managed to transfer his soul into a child, then he could start his life again as a kid, but with the mind of an adult. Kind of a creepy scenario really, but I think it might even be creepier if a movie like that existed which wasn’t in the horror genre.

No thanks I can’t wait till it’s over with this one, I certainly don’t want to redo anything.

No… not anymore. I would just obsess about the one girl that got away.

People restart their lives every day. I sure did, about ten years ago. Just walked away from everything and every person that I didn’t want to be a part of any longer. It’s great!

It’s better than great. Because every time you restart, it’s like getting a power up module for your bullshit meter and three extra lives added to your patience and understanding levels.

No. The world is an insane asylum run by the patients and would still be so were I reborn.

I don’t think I’d like a do-over. Just 1 small change could have an unknown number of consequences. Besides, I kinda like the me of now.

Got to agree with @Dutchess_III.

Before having kids, I’d entertain this question. After having them, there isn’t one single minute thing I would change.

Ask me again after I’m done having them? I’m sure I’ll make lots of parenting mistakes. :P

@fluthernutter Then you should go see About Time, too. :)

A do-over involves both avoiding terrible mistakes and missing out on so many things I would not give up for anything. I’ll stick with learning from my many mistakes and appreciate the lessons I’ve learned. I have been forgiven by people I love more than I could ever have expected. I’ll skip the do-over and appreciate the blessing that life has granted me.

I just wish we could pass the knowledge on to our kids, adult kids @Dr_Lawrence. But then they’d be paralyzed…..

Fuck yes, I would not trade having my daughter for anything, but I did trade my education for a dysfunctional marriage that has left me compromised in my middle age now.
I had the GPA and enthusiasm to go all the way but, I didn’t.

You would only have an advantage in the beginning. As your life proceeded, your altered choices would change the course of your life until all of your previous memories would be useless in your new situations.

Example: If only I had gone to a different high school…

Just like that, all your friends are gone. You went to a different university. You dated different people. You end up with a different job. Everything is different, so past knowledge is only useful up until high school.

I think everyone would like to go back and change certain circumstances of their lives, but they your life would no longer be recognizable.

I used to think about this a lot and decided that the only control I do have is over the present, so I better make decisions that I won’t regret later on. I haven’t been 100% successful (no one is), but you feel better knowing that you were deliberate in your decisions.

I don’t know. I think not. I love my daughter too much to change anything. If I had made different decisions, and they somehow led to not having her, it wouldn’t be worth it.

If I could keep all my memories and accumulated life experiences and then start over? I would be tempted to try a restart.

@drdoombot

All true, but I think you could still generalize from remembered experience, at least to a certain extent. Plus, you still might encounter remembered experiences occasionally, up to a certain point, depending on how old you were when you restarted. I bet it would be kinda like having a lot of really strong de ja vu, except you would know exactly why.

Yes and play around nicely but with no spontaneity.