Would you go back and fix something in your past? How would you do it?

I’d get my hands on a Delorean, of course!

I’ve thought about this and there really isn’t anything I would change. Not because I haven’t made any hideous mistakes but because they weren’t so much mistakes as they were lessons. If I hadn’t made them how would I have learned. I am hard headed and it seems I need to learn things the “hard way” or they don’t stick.

That answer sounds trite, like something you would read in a self help book, actually I think that is where I read it, whatever, it works for me!

Would that be going back in time retaining what you know now?

I made a lot of silly mistakes when I was with my girlfriend. I would go back to the past, and do anything to prevent her breaking up with me. Of course, I shouldn’t start dreaming.

@ChazMaz You can play it any way you wish my friend. What came to mind?

@ChazMaz has a good point; I think many, if not most, of us would probably do the same damn stupid thing w/o the knowledge gained from said stupid thing. So, for me, I would need to ‘know then what I know now’ for sure!

If I know what I know now. I might/will change the outcome of my past. What is to say something else bad might not crop up?
Even retaining the knowledge of the future.
As you change things you will also change that time line. So the future that you though you knew would not be the same when you got there.

If you just go back. Clean slate as if there was no future. It would just happen again. Once would be enough for me.

I like the idea of waking up in the body of your past self. You do not retain the knowledge of the future, just wisps of it, being very intuitive.

Then when something crops up you can have that funny feeling in your gut to commit or not commit to a situation.

Hmmmmm I get the feeling I had this conversation before. ;-)

Theoretically travelling through time, backwards or forwards is not impossible and so if the technology existed you could in fact go back in time to revisit your past self though unfortunately you cannot alter your past nor the past of someone that has affected you, the reason for this is because it would create a paradox. If you change your past or someones who is close to you then the person you are right now would no longer exist and the reason for you going back in time would no longer exist and so you would not go back in time, therefore you would revert back to your former self and become tangled in a infinite loop.

This is based on the assumption that there is only a single universe, in a multiverse this theory becomes more complicated, firstly it would provide a way to remove the paradox as you would not be simply be traveling through time but also through dimensions and thus the past you change will not be yours in this universe but in a parallel universe and so the you in that universe would become a different entity than yourself.

Secondly there is a theory that states the everything that could have happened has happened simply in an alternate reality and so if this is the case then that event you wish had gone a different way, did in fact happen differently and the you that you wish you were exists elsewhere in the multiverse.

I would change almost EVERYTHING. I would never have dropped out of high school, I would have never started drinking/taking drugs, I would have never attempted suicide, I would have never done a lot of destructive things that set me up for so many problems later on in life.

I’d go and stop me from going to watch the Matrix Reloaded (nothing against the movie but against the person I met that has haunted my life ever since)
I’d literally go and invite myself for a cup of coffee and wisdom and I’d tell myself something like:
1. Do not watch the movie, wait for the dvd release, your life will be happier, you will meet someone that is going to be bad for you, think of this person as heroin, stay away from it.
2. Do not enroll the college you are thinking of, is not good for you, go to the college where all your friends go, you will be happy, besides, you don’t need to prove the world that you will pass the admission exam in the top 40 out of 3000, leave your ego behind, there are better ways to prove those around you wrong.
Do those 2 things, your life will be great!!! don’t listen to me and you will suffer… big time!

It’s good to think to go back and fix things up; but unfortunately we cannot. It’s better not to think about it, because it’s not doing any good to you; you’ll lose time which you might regret about wasting it in future.

Don’t waste thinking about past, it’s gone; and don’t waste time worrying about future, just take care of your present and it will build your future for you.
What was to happen, happened. What is there to happen, will happen. So, don’t worry, live your life in the present and enjoy it fully.

If anyhow, you want to forget someone or something in past, you may try these:

Write it or their names on sand on beach and see the ocean erase it, think it is being erased from your mind too.

Another way is to write it on paper and burn it, if you want to take your anger out on it.

However, the best way, I know, is ask God and seek his help. He’ll definitely format your hard drive!...not only that but also he’ll load awesome programs too and free of cost!

I wish I could, but I don’t see how it’s possible, even with the right DeLorean. For example, I should not have married my first wife, but then I wouldn’t have had my children.

Oops, I forgot HOW. Yeah, there’s the rub.

I would have to know then, what I know now. ‘Cause back then, I thought I knew everything. I guess if someone besides my parents could have gotten through to me, I might have heeded the warning.

Anything coming from my parents/teachers/police just sounded like they were trying to kill my buzz, ya know?

There are lots of things in my life that were mistakes, things that I sometimes imagine what my life would be like if I had done them differently. But in the end, I have had great experiences, become the person I am, and have a great family because of those things, so I would not change them.

If I could go back in time I would undo the jerky things I’ve done. When I was in high school I may or may not have clipped somebody’s car in a parking lot. My memory isn’t too clear on it. I would change that, I would check the car, leave a note with phone #, something of that sort. There are some other things like that, some I don’t remember right now, at least one that I will not reveal in public. These are the things I would change. Little moments where I wasn’t as good a person as I could be, but not things that would alter the course of my life.

I have many regrets concerning my mom. I’ll always carry guilt with me. Even more so that she let it all go & said all was well. If I could go back just for one day…..

I have regrets about a PM that I sent to a friend. As a result, they’re no longer a friend & that hurts me a lot. My warped sense of humor backfired & now the damage is done. I wish I could fix it, but I’m afraid I’ll never be able to.

But you can’t travel on someone’s personal timeline! It creates bad stuff, like Reapers/Chronovores.

I can’t answer this question without writing a novel, so suffice it to say were I to go back in time with my current mindset and self-awareness to change something, I’d be 14 and would punch someone who deserved it in the nose and I would tell that person to fucking piss off and mind her own fucking business.

And then I’d dare her to hit me or tell me I wasn’t allowed to do something ever again.

I would have kept my damn mouth shut and backed away from the whole situation. ‘Nuff said.

I’d make sure to have some proof of who I am and then just tell myself the things to do differently.

I don’t know.

I had a huge failure around a decade ago, and I still carry the weight of it on my shoulders. Part of me is tempted to go back and fix it, but so much time has passed that I wonder about the things I would have missed out on that I know now, like the skills that helped me land a tech support job which supported my family when my mother was laid off. If that failure had not happened, I would not have been set on the path that allowed me to step up and support my family when it was needed.

On the other hand, I’m 28 and feeling a little directionless (or perhaps a better way to describe it is nonchalant about my future prospects). Perhaps that other path in life would have made me more ambitious; on a solid career and with a family by now (which I do desire).

There are so many variables and it’s really hard to know if fixing past mistakes, even huge ones, would create a better future than the one you’re living in now.

Great Question for the topic tags.

@Snarp thanks for noticing.

:-)

I don’t think that I could change my past without destroying my future.

All I can think about in this context is GETTING BACK AT PEOPLE. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Ahhh – killbill – @srmorgan – great flick!

I kind of faught with my cousin…I regret it and if I had the chance to change what happened I would stop telling her my secrets, and then nothing would’ve happened…

welcome @chou199015

Thank you…I don’t know…I would just react differently care less….I mean sure I might mess up again…but there is always hope…thanks Zen

@chou199015 You’re welcome.
:-)

No, I’d leave it be. I’m not ashamed of the mistakes I’ve made. I never made the same mistake twice and that’s good enough for me. I’m allowed to screw up, I’m just not allowed to give up.

I would have changed a lot of things in my past (and I am pretty sure it in no way harm or influence our present because the system is flexible). I have been trying to do so for 5 years but unsuccessfully. People who claim they can go back and change the past in fact are telling nonsense. They mean they can change the attitude. But I don’t give up and hope to find someone who can do this and would help me! If it is not a working but experimental technique I am prepared to risk.

Don’t go back to the past,look at all the things that you have,sure you make a lot of mistakes,if you do it you will make it worse