What Would You Have Done Differently? What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?

[GeorgeJL]

Want to hear something funny? I bought a small fortune of bitcoin before it got big and I forgot about it for the longest time and now I've moved house a few times and all that so I have no idea what my password or recovery code is to get into my wallet. I know my wallet I'd but no idea what my fricking password is lol

If it's easy then you can brute force it. If it's complicated then you should have put it into a file.

 

[Oblivion Lover]

Stockpile your meds, you idiot - for my 6 months younger self. Maybe if he listened I would have enough pills by now to ctb instead of just drawing attention and cutting off my access to the only painless method I had.

 

[Faraway1990]

If it's easy then you can brute force it. If it's complicated then you should have put it into a file.

Thank you for the idea!, I'll give it a try! My password wouldn't be very complicated just used so many over the years so hopefully I can get this to work.

 

[Kjo]

Dear younger me,

Don't let her go. Don't tell her how to CTB. Don't tell her she has it easy...

Keep your secret. The therapist won't keep it. Don't ever let anyone know. It'll cost you your mom if you let that secret out.

You will always be unlovable, but your purpose isn't to be loved, it's to give love.

 

[srk003]

Yeah I've been struggling with this until now. It hurts.You know when they say "Play Responsibly" is just another blame shifting, to justify their business. Addiction is a sickness, not a crime. Been limiting my gambling compulsion by putting a cap on how much I bet. That's the best I can muster, to mitigate my addiction.

My issue is online roulette and to a lesser extent slots. No skill whatsoever. I can spend an evening building up a balance and having a good time - the dopamine high is real. I also have no real 'life' to speak of. I only bet red and black and cover zeros. Then at some point the inevitable, sometimes seemingly ridiculous, losing streak begins and I start increasing bets to cover it and it's lost. And then chasing starts. This has happened several times. I wouldn't recommend it. The required mental faculties dissipate in your need/greed to get it back even if it's just getting back your 'profit'.

It depends on where you live, but I've heard of a service called gamstop which many gambling companies sign up to and a registration means that they flag you. So even if you win they won't pay you, that enough is a good deterrent. Doesn't stop you from seeking out some dodgy websites but it might help. I confess I'm yet to do this. Self excluding is an option but I'm sure you know that.

Yes it really is bad to be involved with problem gambling excessively. It can alter the trajectory of your mood tremendously and mistakes you make, in my case clicking some buttons essentially playing some computer game online, can haunt you long after. And getting over the losses can be a big emotional task.

All the best (I say on a sui website!).

 

[TimeToDie]

If I could go back to 2016 I'd give myself some advice on buying real estate. That advice would be not to buy a house that is right next to railroad tracks as that train will pass by every 30 minutes every single day (even at 3am on Sundays & holidays) to remind you how stupid you were.

 

[ladolcemorte]

dont strive to be the best. settle for a simple life and enjoy the simple things.

if you find love, dont give up so easily. dont regret telling someone you love them, they might not be there tomorrow.

dont get a high flying pressurised job, dont study medicine, do something you enjoy. you dont have to prove anything to anyone.

or on the other hand, I could have just said to my 16 yr old self that life would be pants, so dont bother.

I can relate to this. I went into a high pressure career, after I failed in an artistic career. I thought if I couldn't do so,etching I loved I could at least make a lot of money and be respected. Now I have ruined my career and can't do anything else. I spent so much time chasing this high status career, and now I won't even have a mediocre career. If I stay alive I will be in an inescapable trap of poverty forever. I can't help but wonder if I had just pursued something less demanding, I might have been able to figure out a way to make it work.

 

[Loli]

7-10 year old me- you were born evil and will remain evil. You will never belong to anywhere nor anyone. You will hurt people you've sworn to protect. Don't listen to those who say it's only a matter of hormones- this is a spiral of instanity and it will only get worse. Kill yourself now.

 

[barny]

I can relate to this. I went into a high pressure career, after I failed in an artistic career. I thought if I couldn't do so,etching I loved I could at least make a lot of money and be respected. Now I have ruined my career and can't do anything else. I spent so much time chasing this high status career, and now I won't even have a mediocre career. If I stay alive I will be in an inescapable trap of poverty forever. I can't help but wonder if I had just pursued something less demanding, I might have been able to figure out a way to make it work.

I had thought i'd just find a job doing something I was happy doing even if they pay was pants - although it would have to pay my rent, which is hard as I can hardly afford it now. I think id work with animals.

 

[Scribble Fan]

You'll never be normal and that's ok, stop trying to fit vapid standards. It will only bring you pain.

Make an attempt to get and keep some friends instead of cutting yourself off for good. Otherwise, in the end, you will be trapped inside yourself without a key.

Dropping your religion wont fix your depression, it will only dig you deeper into existential crisis.

Please don't focus on love. It wont bear any fruits.


Wow. Typing this out makes me realize what a total fuck-up I am. R.I.P. final shreds of dignity.

 

[KnightOfEnceladus]

"Don't go to college or if you do, do a pharma program, not geology. You are one girl and you cannot save the world; oncoming climate change is bigger than you and the powers that be will deliberately refuse to address it.

Don't date R; she's insane.

Don't help J more than a few months at a time. Not for 5 years for sure. She is super crazy, and you will end up homeless in late June of 2019."

 

[Kjo]

Stop messing around with self-harm and just kill yourself already. You're just delaying the inevitable.

I definitely wish I never self harmed... Could've joined the military or even tried for modeling or some shit, if my legs didn't look like they've spent years in a blender...

 

[natalia31]

Stop messing around with self-harm and just kill yourself already. You're just delaying the inevitable.

i would say something similar to my self at 13. things wont get better, they will actually get worse so just stop cutting your legs and kill yourself already.

 

[Dead beat dad]

I am in my 30's now, and I wish I knew years ago what I know now. I feel like I have gained the wisdom of many lifetimes. But at the same time I can't fix things now because of my health conditions.

This is what I would tell myself. So here it goes.

At 5 years old. - "Growth is attained when you either help end suffering or add meaning to your life or others lives, that should be your core value. Stay close to your dad and mom, especially your dad. Seek truth, learn to think objectively, and learn critical thinking through books. Talk to your dad. Learn as much as you can about how the world works and how your own mind works. Don't take the bible so seriously. (Parents were fundamentalist Christians.)"

At 10 years old - "Focus on your school work because you need to go to higher education. Either masturbate or don't, no need to feel ashamed about it though, and if it gets to be too much then just take an anaphrodisiac. (I had a very high sex drive.) And forgive your dad of everything, support him he's been through things he never even told you."

At 20 years old - "Go to college or a trade school, and learn how to attract women and get married after you finish schooling."

After marriage. - "Pass down a message through your children, one that will be passed down through the generations to your children's children, a message that will be able to stand the test of time, one that is grounded in truth and reality."

And so if I followed those instructions then I would have avoided my health problem.

How many of us think our younger selves would actually listen (like Biff in Back to the Future II) to any old man crazy talk?
When I think of the things I'd want to tell myself, looking back someone DID try and tell me and I didn't listen then and it's too late now.
Perhaps I'd tell my younger self to be kinder to himself and others and that being 'cool' is not a virtue (not that 10 year old undiagnosed autistic retard me would know what a virtue is LOL).

 

[Faraway1990]

How many of us think our younger selves would actually listen (like Biff in Back to the Future II) to any old man crazy talk?
When I think of the things I'd want to tell myself, looking back someone DID try and tell me and I didn't listen then and it's too late now.
Perhaps I'd tell my younger self to be kinder to himself and others and that being 'cool' is not a virtue (not that 10 year old undiagnosed autistic retard me would know what a virtue is LOL).

My 16 year old self was pretty clever and intelligent I'd just say I had crap forward thinking so as long as I made it clear the emotional and life circumstances consequences of stupid decisions I'd have listened. And 16 year old me would be the best version of myself to act 18/19+ I was stuck in denial over my choices (the ones at 16 ) and would probably just get drunk and play some pc games hating myself.

 

[Scribble Fan]

How many of us think our younger selves would actually listen (like Biff in Back to the Future II) to any old man crazy talk?
When I think of the things I'd want to tell myself, looking back someone DID try and tell me and I didn't listen then and it's too late now.
Perhaps I'd tell my younger self to be kinder to himself and others and that being 'cool' is not a virtue (not that 10 year old undiagnosed autistic retard me would know what a virtue is LOL).

I had this strange fear as a kid that, if another me popped out of an alternate universe, we'd be forced to fight to the death to determine I was the real / original one. Made no sense what-so-ever, I think I watched a movie or something about an evil twin and felt threatened when considering it.

In reality, I think I'd be so desperate for any straw of guidance at 16 that I'd probably just listen closely.

 

[cornflowerblue]

I am in my 30's now, and I wish I knew years ago what I know now. I feel like I have gained the wisdom of many lifetimes. But at the same time I can't fix things now because of my health conditions.

This is what I would tell myself. So here it goes.

At 5 years old. - "Growth is attained when you either help end suffering or add meaning to your life or others lives, that should be your core value. Stay close to your dad and mom, especially your dad. Seek truth, learn to think objectively, and learn critical thinking through books. Talk to your dad. Learn as much as you can about how the world works and how your own mind works. Don't take the bible so seriously. (Parents were fundamentalist Christians.)"

At 10 years old - "Focus on your school work because you need to go to higher education. Either masturbate or don't, no need to feel ashamed about it though, and if it gets to be too much then just take an anaphrodisiac. (I had a very high sex drive.) And forgive your dad of everything, support him he's been through things he never even told you."

At 20 years old - "Go to college or a trade school, and learn how to attract women and get married after you finish schooling."

After marriage. - "Pass down a message through your children, one that will be passed down through the generations to your children's children, a message that will be able to stand the test of time, one that is grounded in truth and reality."

And so if I followed those instructions then I would have avoided my health problem.

I wouldn't have done much differently. I am quite happy with my life.

The only things I would have changed are to start certain hobbies earlier, but that wouldn't have led me to a different end result.

 

[mathieu]

Drugs are a sometimes food.

 

[Dartz]

Take no shit, live for yourself, be free and die young

 

[andy69]

Don't go to graduate school. Never take career or job advice from a college professor.

 

[HelpPlease]

Don't do drugs. Pysch meds are evil. Never ever ever have unprotected sex. Stay out of California.

 

[sadbunny]

TO ME AT 24: STOP BEING A STUPID BITCH AND LOVE YOUR GOD DAMN FAMILY

 

[TheBlackSwordsman]

This question is the worst of all. You spend energy thinking about how you would do something that is impossible which just makes you feel even more worthless. This question makes me hate myself all that much more. Especially since I feel the truly problematic choices I've made are few, yet devastating in their consequences. Why even bother over what can never be?

 

[deltahead]

research suicide methods and logistics as soon as possible. make suicide attempts as soon as possible no matter how young you are. this terrified "everything will surely work out great!" mentality is bullshit and you know it. you'll have to put a stop to this yourself. trust me, it'll save you a whole bunch of trouble

 

[Misanthrope]

Hey there idiotic younger me full of optimism. I know you want to believe the underdog can win. That broken system can be fixed from the inside if you throw enough rationalism, reason, and grounded statistics at the problem. Trust me when I say in the future people will be questioning if the world is round or not... and cementing their head in microwaves for youtube likes. Might make you wonder what the point of a reasoned anything is... I know you want to believe that justice can prevail if you harness enough law and beat ignorant abusive assholes over the head with it. But hate to break it to you bud, life is no Disney film. Go read up on the Just World Fallacy. Save yourself some time and misplaced hope.

My advice before you dedicate much of your existence to going on a crusade to put a dent into toxic institutions and help others escape smiling monster, (which in truth is just you projecting how you wished someone had crusaded for you in the past...) Please simply don't. Sure on a small scale, you may help some but it will cost you everything in the end. Have you writing cathartic messages to yourself on a website such as this. More driven out of boredom a desire to outrun sickness and restlessness than anything meaningful.

So go be a vet instead. I am serious. You like animals and they won't betray you. You can't slay the tiger from the inside, it is utterly deluded to think you can. Disappointment will shatter your soul and you will witness it damage others you care about. Your already broken soul will wind up shattered into even more fragments that you did not think possible. That crushed whole will find warped solace venting amidst the other people who have had their own souls shattered beyond repair, ready to choose a hastened demise over further pain.

In the end, you will just get digested and shit out by said tiger. Left in a wasteland of cynicism. To the point that becoming a serial killer almost seems justified in moments, just as a means to redress the injustices at work. Don't eat, sleep, rage. Instead help guinea pigs, wonderfully adorable guinea pigs. Otherwise, you will simply find yourself shaking hands with grinning vultures and using economic reasoning in a manner that will make you sick inside.

Guinea pigs may bite you and draw blood. However, they won't threaten your integrity. You won't compromise yourself to achieve something 'of a greater good' that vultures can provide. Politics is ultimately empty, and much of charity as you believe it to be is an utter scam. Businesses are not interested in providing, they just want tokenism and the benefits it comes with. Nothing more. You can't educate bigots. You can't alter entrenched systems with logic. Are you an oil Baron? Banker? A giant conglomerate of some sort? Got large donations to give? No, then trust me when I say pulling the humanity out of inhumanity is just not possible when that very state is what helps the vultures feather their own nest. You can't argue with greed and self-interest.

Give up, watch Disney films instead if you want your justice fix. Maybe read the word in the dictionary as in truth that is the only place it truly exists.

Also, get out of England, it becomes Orwell's 1984's airstrip one, but as if it had mated with Catch 22.

Lastly, if you do start getting stomach pains and get fobbed off repeatedly by your doctor because of the mental health issues you have. Threaten to sue them. Or if they are so confident get them to waive the protections that would allow you to genuinely sue them for their personal assets. That way, maybe, just maybe you won't wind up perpetually vomiting in a bucket and resenting you have to die because the pain of it all is just too much. As you lament your former career having killed off the best parts of you.

 

[Lady black]

I would tell myself: Hang yourself as fast as you can

 

[Jumper]

Age 6 — see a child psychologist
Age 15 — see a psychiatrist
Age 19 — choose an easier major
Age 20 — you have bipolar illness, not unipolar depression. This is why the meds aren't fully effective. Start a mood stabilizer.
Age 23/24 — this is the best year of your life. Enjoy it, because it's not going to last.
Age 28 — don't live apart from your husband for career purposes.
Age 29 — buy a gun while you're living in an easy access state.
Age 30 — life will get a lot better and you will return to your normal self. But you'll always want to die, so plan accordingly.
Age 35 — you have returned to a state where purchasing a gun is easy. Please buy one.
Age 36 — you'll have a manic episode that will interfere with your career. Avoid it by being careful with meds.
Age 37 — don't get back together with C. A chain of events will lead to a permanent physical problem by way of an unnecessary procedure.
Age 38 — fill out your W4 correctly. There will be serious tax problems otherwise.
Age 39 — you will injure yourself permanently on 3/29/18. The injury will ruin your life. Avoid the injury by not hopping around in your apartment. Go to bed early instead.

 

[riverstyx]

Investing in bitcoin seems like a good idea.

Be careful with nicotine products and alcohol.

Be more physically active. It doesn't take much.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.

Start investing early.

Don't neglect job hunting and make sure you're not unemployed over longer periods of time.

 

[Codieb1]

I Would've straight up told my younger self to go through with it and stop being a pussy. Because it DOESN'T get better. That's a false hope and nothing more than a blind assumption from anti-choicers

 

[dandan]

Teens, hey Dan don't worry if you ain't so cool, just learn to enjoy yourself and company of others
Don't take meds they will never fix the problem
Things will be alright if you learn to just be cool
Learn to play life like if it was a game
Buy bitcoin.
Don't sell your Bitcoin for no reason
Don't gamble with your Bitcoin
Buy bitcoin
Buy Bitcoin