If you could "rewind" your life, would you? (1 Viewer)

[northern exposure]

I walked in on a discussion some co-workers were having. The premise was you can "rewind" your life to a certain point where you feel you made a wrong decision (i.e. married the wrong person, took the wrong job, enrolled in the wrong college program, etc.) and you get to pick up your life from that moment and make a different decision. So, for example, if you asked your first wife to marry you when you were 25, you go back to being 25 and break up with your girlfriend before you marry her. The catch? You lose two years from the end of your life.

Would you do it? The co-worker that started the discussion said his wife heard the question on a radio station on her drive home from work. They discussed it and his response was "Hell yeah", he'd do it because the last years of anybody's life usually aren't the best health-wise, etc. anyway. His wife's response was life is too precious to give up any of the time we are given. And we are who we are today because of the decisions we have made. Whether we see them as right or wrong upon reflection.

What does the FFA say?

 

[captain_amazing]

Is this like time travel?  Would I retain my current memories?

If so, I wouldn't, which is obviously true since I don't remember having done it already.

 

[zoonation]

I'd go back to grade eight and not let Mike Barrett barge in during Lady in Red.  Never fully recovered.

 

[Hilts]

This is a no brainer yes for most people. I'd go back and buy all the domain names I could. The billions I will have should allow me to live a pretty comfortable life that makes up for the last two years lopped off. 

 

[shadyridr]

Obviously

 

[BowieMercs]

I'd go back to the day my daughter was born & tell my wife to insist on more thorough breast examinations. She died 9 yrs & 2 weeks later due to a diagnosis that was far too late.

 

[AAABatteries]

I'd go back to the day my daughter was born & tell my wife to insist on more thorough breast examinations. She died 9 yrs & 2 weeks later due to a diagnosis that was far too late.

:(  

 

[rockaction]

I'd go back to the day my daughter was born & tell my wife to insist on more thorough breast examinations. She died 9 yrs & 2 weeks later due to a diagnosis that was far too late.

:( :(

Sorry for your loss, man.  

 

[TLEF316]

Yeah, no idea why anyone wouldn't do this. Assuming you're living to the typical age nowadays, there's a good chance the last few years of your life are really gonna suck.

My grandma is 92. She's become less and less independent and more and more senile every day. No chance I want to live into my 90's and deal with that nonsense. 

 

[MikeIke]

I'd go back to the day my daughter was born & tell my wife to insist on more thorough breast examinations. She died 9 yrs & 2 weeks later due to a diagnosis that was far too late.

Damn, dude,  that sucks.  I'm sorry. 

P. S.  Thanks for ruining the thread

(kidding) 

ETA: I 'liked'  your post not because I like what happened,  but because it was a heartfelt thing for you to share. 

 

[northern exposure]

I'd go back to grade eight and not let Mike Barrett barge in during Lady in Red.  Never fully recovered.

I think we may need you to flesh out this story a bit.

 

[MikeIke]

To answer the OP,  yes of course I would.  My only problem would be deciding which wrong decision to go back to and do over. 

 

[northern exposure]

Is this like time travel?  Would I retain my current memories?

If so, I wouldn't, which is obviously true since I don't remember having done it already.

I think the discussion might have started based on the new NBC TV show, Timeless. I haven't seen it, so I don't know all the details.

 

[AAABatteries]

Yeah, no idea why anyone wouldn't do this. Assuming you're living to the typical age nowadays, there's a good chance the last few years of your life are really gonna suck.

My grandma is 92. She's become less and less independent and more and more senile every day. No chance I want to live into my 90's and deal with that nonsense. 

I didn't really take this to mean - if you could travel back and become a zillionaire would you do it.  I think that's a different hypothetical than the OP intended.  Personally, while I'm far from perfect - especially with wasting money over the year - I wouldn't go back and change anything, especially considering I have 4 kids and I'm assuming they wouldn't be either the same kids or the same as they are now.  I'm perfectly content with my life save some minor BS I deal with at work.

 

[Reg Lllama of Brixton]

Read "Replay" by Ken Grimwood  

 

[Cowboysfan8]

I'd go back to the day my daughter was born & tell my wife to insist on more thorough breast examinations. She died 9 yrs & 2 weeks later due to a diagnosis that was far too late.

Damn. Sorry Bowie 

 

[EYLive]

Yes, especially if I get to keep my current knowledge.

 

[northern exposure]

This is a no brainer yes for most people. I'd go back and buy all the domain names I could. The billions I will have should allow me to live a pretty comfortable life that makes up for the last two years lopped off. 

Not really the intent of the discussion. It is more aimed at people feeling their lives would have turned out far differently if they didn't go through that first marriage, turn down that job  opportunity that required them to move to a different city, etc.

 

[northern exposure]

Read "Replay" by Ken Grimwood  

Googled it and it sounds interesting. Thanks.

 

[Galileo]

To answer the OP,  yes of course I would.  My only problem would be deciding which wrong decision to go back to and do over. 

The first one?

 

[mr roboto]

I would think everyone has one choice (or more) that would be worth a do over in exchange for 2 less years. Hell we don't even know when we are gonna die so it's not like you know what you are missing. 

Come to think of it how depressing would it be if you were given this chance and you said 'Hell yeah!' And you were told you weren't eligible cause there wasn't enough time left for the trade in. 

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Yeah this has to be something you do without retaining your current memories or any knowledge of the future otherwise it's a no brainer.

Even still, it's a no brainer.

 

[northern exposure]

To answer the OP,  yes of course I would.  My only problem would be deciding which wrong decision to go back to and do over. 

This brings up an interesting point. Say you feel you have made 3 major wrong decisions in your life. You go back and change the first one. Would the other two wrong decisions still happen? Would changing the first decision have a Butterfly/Ripple Effect? Would your perspective change and now you don't think the other two decisions are wrong anymore?

If changing the first decision doesn't impact the other two in some way, do you get to the next "crossroads" and "rewind" your life again resulting in your life ending 4,6.8, etc years earlier?

 

[wikkidpissah]

One regret, kinda. I was a GOD in Boston radio in '76 - so far ahead of Scott Shannon (founder of Morning Zoo) and everyone but the WBCN Brahmin that they were dots to me. As i've chronicled here before, my ulcer exploded midway thru '77 and, almost as though she knew, my HS sweetheart invited me out to the commune in the mountains of NM where she lived. Got out there and not only was it beautiful like i didn't know existed but the commune - a cluster of homesteaded mining shacks - was like 6 guys and 40 centerfold-quality hippie chicks. Loved my ol' sweetie since i was 12 but was actually glad when her ol' man came back.

There i was, 25yo, rich for a hippie, my heavenwish virtually realized. Well, heaven's no good til you found some hells to compare it to and i left a little over a year later. Went down to Albq. then about a quarter of the size it is now. Had an audition tape of my old syndicated comedy show and an outline for some awesome characters - a hippie astrologer, Naomi Moon Goldberg, that i'd already written 100 pgs of canned table reads to be put on carts for call-ins; a fish&game reporter who always started out for elk or rainbow but always seemed to end up passed out under a pool table w his pants round his ankles @ a cholo or biker bar; a Navajo mystic who was always running for a political office of some kind & many others - for a drive time show that might have even beaten Imus's time quality-wise.

My CV immediately got me an interview @ KKOB, part of the biggest media org in town. I was gonna be cool and not make em bump the drivetime jocks right away, take the midday or dinner shows. Shonuff, they offer me noons. Yeah boyeeee! Before i talk salary, i wanna talk budget for actors and ####. They stopped me in my tracks and offered me $38/show (less than $200 in today's dough) and a budget of precisely nothing. "Ain't no drivetime here, bud", the PM said. "You can get anywhere anytime in 10 minutes here, 'less you're passin thru" (something i thought about every time i got caught in traffic for an hour when i moved back 20 yrs later).

My agent had recently been in talks w RKO General for a reboot of my scripted show @ $9000/wk, so you can imagine how i felt about $38 per. It actually would have been perfect for me to grow - i'd never jocked and coulda worked out my thang w ab no pressure - with Albq then shopped my act later for the big dough. Said no, of course. My fancy agent didn't get me anything but an SNL audition in '80 and some ghost work and i never shopped myself in radio again.

Still and all, no regrets, 'cept wondering how i mighta done. Well, maybe one - the aforementioned Scott Shannon signed w an LA station about the time i left NM for $2.3mil/yr ('80s dollars). That hurt a while. nufced

 

[Osaurus]

Uncle Rico alias?

 

[NREC34]

Why is 2 years a big deal?

if I go back 20 I'm gaining 18

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

If I go back and dump my wife after our first date then this means my two daughters would never exist and for that reason I couldn't do it. Wouldn't want to anyway. 

I would consider going back to a point after the 2nd was born as there have been a few bad decisions since that time, but likely nothing worth forfeiting 2 years at the end of my life. 

So, no. 

 

[Gr00vus]

Yeah this has to be something you do without retaining your current memories or any knowledge of the future

Then wouldn't you make the same "bad" decision again?

 

[DaBeers]

Serious question to those of you with children:  To some degree don't we do this "rewind" through our kids?   Who hasn't said at one time or another "don't make the same mistakes I did"?

Parents often live vicariously through our kids, whether it is in athletics, schooling, or life choices in general because we want them to have opportunities and experiences we did not choose to act upon at the appropriate time in our own lives.

As for me, I would go back and take my college education more seriously and maybe follow through on joining the military (early 90's after Gulf War 1, before 9/11).   I am a patriot and regret not acting on that...

 

[captain_amazing]

I would not go back.  Who knows how changes to my past would affect my future?  Sure, it might seem like a good idea to change some regret, but maybe the next day I get hit by a bus as a result, or start WW3, or never learn how to post images on the FFA.  I mean, I can't risk all of that, can I?

 

[captain_amazing]

Plus, it is mistakes and regrets that have shaped me into who I am, which I'm pretty happy with.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Hmmm. Guess I'm weird. I've always gone through life trying to figure what positive thing I can take from an experience. These days - I'm 54 - I don't look back with regret. I'm thankful for lessons learned & personal growth. Everything I've been through, good and bad, shaped who I am today, and I'm grateful.

Take my career. No regrets leaving Coopers & Lybrand/PwC, I was never going to be a rainmaker partner, but it was absolutely the best place for me to start because it set me up for success. With 20-20 hindsight I would have written a $75K check to keep my pro rata share of stock in our first startup (we sold for $97M a few years later), but then I would have missed out being on the ground floor in 2004. 12-1/2 years on we're about to cash in on number two, and I've loved what I have done in the intervening years.

I gave up on my first marriage just from boredom / unhappiness. She remarried a great guy, had another kid and has done well. Our son is in college now and my 8 y.o. is the joy of life. No way I would give up what it has meant to me to raise a daughter, largely by myself. There's a lot of pain mixed in there but it only made me stronger & I learned so much about myself and relationships along the way.

No thanks. But, yeah, I guess not everyone looks at life this way.

 

[Hilts]

Not really the intent of the discussion. It is more aimed at people feeling their lives would have turned out far differently if they didn't go through that first marriage, turn down that job  opportunity that required them to move to a different city, etc.

My marriage and job opportunities would have been significantly different with a large bank account.

 

[sports_fan]

Probably not. There's one event about 8 years ago that had significant and lasting affect on me. I'd give up a lot to reverse that, however, 8 years off the back end of my life is just too much.

 

[BowieMercs]

Damn, dude,  that sucks.  I'm sorry. 

P. S.  Thanks for ruining the thread

(kidding) 

ETA: I 'liked'  your post not because I like what happened,  but because it was a heartfelt thing for you to share. 

Humor is the best medicine. I liked your post for the thanks for ruining the thread comment. I don't relish being Debbie Downer. Even though it was a long time ago(we were married 17 yrs & shes been gone a little longer), not a day goes by that I don't think of her. You never really get over something like as much as you learn to live with it. 

 

[Snoopy]

18 years ago I got a job offer pulling me away from the job I had.  I had some reservations about it and the other employer offered me a substantial raise to stay.  With that I stayed with the old employer, only to get laid off a while later.  I should have listened to my instincts and moved on to greener pastures.

 

[shader]

Can I take the sports almanac?

 

[Tick]

Life's good - I'll stick with this one.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

No freaking way.  Maybe I've just been lucky in the "wrong-decision" area, but two years might be a kid's wedding or a seeing a grandkid or living until there's a cure for that thing that killed me two years earlier.  Surprised how universal the yeses are here.

 

[northern exposure]

Can I take the sports almanac?

No Biff. So you can't bet on the Cubbies.

 

[bigbottom]

Can I go back but not change anything?  Because I would absolutely do that.  

 

[dmac37]

I must say a lot of small mistakes I would change and the usual marriage trying moments but my life turned out better than I could have hoped for.

For a knucklehead that turned down a few basketball scholarships to small schools and then paid for school but did not finish college, things worked out pretty good. A  job with a great company that pays pretty good (not by FBG standards by any means), travel many times a year, fulfilled a life long dream of living on a lake, have a great looking wife and great kids- yes no regrets worth worrying about.

But now if we are talking about the going back in time thing I would love to know.the situations that if I would have known to take a shot on the girl it would have worked out. i was a pretty shy guy growing up and would love to know the times (I'm sure few and far between) that if I would have pursued the girl it just may have worked out.....

 

[Willie Neslon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsKbwR7WXN4&feature=youtu.be&t=55s

 

[Pipes]

I feel bad for anyone who says yes.  Sure I have some small regrets, like not banging a girl in high school that I was too naive and stupid to see the signs, otherwise very happy how things turned out.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Yeah, no idea why anyone wouldn't do this. Assuming you're living to the typical age nowadays, there's a good chance the last few years of your life are really gonna suck.

My grandma is 92. She's become less and less independent and more and more senile every day. No chance I want to live into my 90's and deal with that nonsense. 

Like somebody said if you retain your memories, it's a hell no for me.  The farthest I could go back is the day my daughter was born.  (about 2 years). 

All it takes is jerking it one extra time or at a different time or banging some random chick and I don't have my kids.  No thanks. 

On the other side, if you don't retain your memories, what's the point of going back - you aren't going to change much.   So basically, no thanks.  I guess I could go back a bit and place a couple bets or something to provide a little more $ (what were the odds a year ago of Trump being President?)

 

[northern exposure]

Can I go back but not change anything?  Because I would absolutely do that.  

 Actually, a great posting. Instead of thinking and wondering about what might have been, go back and live through all the things that actually happened.

 

[BowieMercs]

 Actually, a great posting. Instead of thinking and wondering about what might have been, go back and live through all the things that actually happened.

Sounds a lot like GroundHog Day  

 

[bentley]

It's an interesting question. I made a lot of really stupid choices and took way too long to get where I am. But, I love where I am now. And I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that path.

For example, going to West Point would have been a better idea than moving to Austin and flunking out of the University of Texas after a year. But, there's no way the me that went to West Point would be doing what I'm doing.

 

[northern exposure]

Like somebody said if you retain your memories, it's a hell no for me.  The farthest I could go back is the day my daughter was born.  (about 2 years). 

All it takes is jerking it one extra time or at a different time or banging some random chick and I don't have my kids.  No thanks. 

On the other side, if you don't retain your memories, what's the point of going back - you aren't going to change much.   So basically, no thanks.  I guess I could go back a bit and place a couple bets or something to provide a little more $ (what were the odds a year ago of Trump being President?)

Hey no offense, but this thread is for thoughtful reflection, b.s.ing around and shtick. But, please check your politics at the door. Your comment is innocent enough, but I don't want to see it start a political war in here among the extremists. There is too many  enough political threads in the FFA already.

 

[shadyridr]

Like somebody said if you retain your memories, it's a hell no for me.  The farthest I could go back is the day my daughter was born.  (about 2 years). 

All it takes is jerking it one extra time or at a different time or banging some random chick and I don't have my kids.  No thanks. 

On the other side, if you don't retain your memories, what's the point of going back - you aren't going to change much.   So basically, no thanks.  I guess I could go back a bit and place a couple bets or something to provide a little more $ (what were the odds a year ago of Trump being President?)

7:1?