The year is 2030, you’ve just spent your life savings on purchasing a ticket to ‘reset’ your life. You’ve gone back in time to your first-day of school. You have a chance to live your life again. You have all of your current memories. What would you do differently?
TheSavingNinja propose a thought experiment each month. I’ve read the first two thought experiments, and after reading some of the great contributions in the community (to this third experiment), I decided to give this one a go myself…
The premise of these thought experiments is to allow your thoughts to flow as freely as possible – so no planning, and a limited amount of editing. I have been told before (to my face) that I’m the master of bullshit – so here goes 😛
Back to school
TSN forgot to explicitly define the rules of this reset – he failed (or maybe it was intentionally) to specify what he meant by school. I’ve gone to 3 different kind of schools. Elementary school, high school and the university. I suspect he was referring to Elementary school, but since that would make me the most annoying know-it-all 6-year old in the history of mankind (I was already pretty annoying back then), I think I would opt to spare the world of that experience, and jump back to high school instead! (I’m a huge Back to The Future fan! Go McFly!)
The year 2000
Headlines read: Planes will fall from the sky, hospitals will stop functioning and there will be riots in the streets!
A new millennium. Something the modern society has never experienced before. Nobody knows what will happen. Perhaps every electronic device known to man will cease to function. Of course, I’ve been here before. So I know, what’s going to happen: absolutely none of the above. I’m 17 years old, and I’ve just met who will become my first real girlfriend (for the next 5 years). She is 23. Yes that’s right, I’m a Mac Daddy 😎 She’s fucking hot too! She’s got her own apartment in the city, and she’s got a well-paying full-time job.
Man that was fun to re-experience! 😛
Anyway, I’m trying to think of up-coming future events that I would like to try and avoid. I remember a piece of advice that my (future) granddad gave me once:
If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t (always) say no when people offered me to sit down/come in for a chat and a pint.
He didn’t really drink beer, and neither do I, but I understood what he meant by it.
Enjoy life a little more. Party (I’ve never been a big party-go’er, and I’m not much into dancing, although I do have rhythm. It just seem like a silly activity, really) and hang out with friends. Be a stupid teenager. Get into dumb shit and experience the world. Go on trips with friends and stop hanging out in the basement of your parents house, in front of the computer so much (it did ultimately get me a decent career though…).
Oh and also: Do your fucking homework prior to the night before you have to hand it in. Please. You dumbass.
I’ve heard of a computer company called Apple. They make these weird looking computers that doesn’t run Windows. But Windows 2000 is the shit, right? True. Buy some stocks in both companies then (Apple and Microsoft). You don’t need that car anyway! – You’ll just end up seriously damaging another car in the parking lot at the high school…. OK, how many should I buy? As many as you can afford, trust me 😉
Just for the reference – Apple was $1 in 2001…They surpassed $220 in August 2018.
So Nick, you’re really going to Biff it, are you!?
Well, I’m a gentleman of course (unlike Biff), but it can’t hurt to make a few strategic investments early in life, can it?…
So anyway, besides that – you could be a little nicer to your parents. Courtesy is free, my man. Not a lot in life is, so give what you can to the people around you. And I know you’re very fond of your hair. Enjoy it while it last. HA! (it’s not gonna last 🙁 ).
Back to the future
The more I think about it, the less I feel like changing, actually. Which is really comforting and nice to know. This thought experiment has definitely made me appreciate my current state of life a lot more. I would definitely hold back on the lifestyle inflation though. I’ve never cared about brand named clothing, drinking or partying like my peers – but I’ve always had one vice they didn’t – cars. I love cars. I’ve easily spent more than 1.000.000 DKK (€133.333/$153.850) on cars in the last 10 years. That’s 100.000 DKK on average/year. You can do quite fine, just by spending 1/4 of that. I’ve already made adjustments in that area, but I would definitely go back and make that change 10 years ago, if I could 😉
I’m sure some more stuff will come to mind if I gave it more time, but it seems I’m in fact quite content with my past. I will end these ramblings with one of my favorite quotes:
Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the “present”. – Master Oogway
Yes, that’s right. I just quoted an animated turtle from a Dreamworks movie. Bazinga!
Follow the thoughts
These are some of the other bloggers that I follow, who also follow the thought experiments:
What would you do differently, if you had the chance to go back and change stuff in your past?
Awesome response Nick, thanks for taking part 😀
Buying an expensive sports car is what made me find the FI/RE movement! After two years of owning it and ending up in negative money, I thought – what the hell am I doing? But I don’t regret buying it, or I may not have found our community 🙂
Thanks for coming up with the experiments! I can’t wait for the next one 😉
Ha! I love the thought experiment. It would definitely be great to be able to predict the winners in the stock market. I can’t help thinking of The Butterfly Effect though. How would some of the things you like about your life today change with the actions you change in your past? You might end up worse off 😉
I agree. I honestly don’t think it would be worth going back, unless you had some kind of disasterous event you were trying to avoid. Like the death of your parents or something (which if my memory serve me right, is actually what he tries to do in The Butterfly Effect. Awesome movie btw. Did you know that there are actually two different endings to that movie? The theatrical version didn’t end the same way as the one released on DVD – only one of them has a “happy” ending…).
EDIT: It has 4 different endings! 😮 I’m sure it’s some kind of pun on the movie itself 😉
I actually knew that (but only about the two, not the four?!), but what a coincidence. I told my wife about the two endings yesterday too, and she didn’t know 🙂
It’s funny, because I’m sure you’ll have a difference of opinion (about the movie), depending on which ending you saw originally 😉 I don’t recall which one I saw first. Maybe I’ll have to re-watch it now! I like Ashton Kutcher. I watch “The Ranch” on Netflix whenever the wife starts snoring next to me on the couch. She doesn’t like him 😛
“I would definitely hold back on the lifestyle inflation though.”
I’d have to work on that as well as I’ve let my money roll big time when I was younger. Not on cars, but on…. I don’t even remember. Nothing stands out. But the lifestyle inflation monster is luring everywhere!
Well, I don’t believe in crying over spilt milk – but one should try to avoid to spill the milk 😛
I’ve never regretted spending money – I’ve had fun, but perhaps I could have had an equal amount of fun, spending less money. We’ll never know 😛
I’m currently reading “Your money or your life”, in which the author (Vicki Robin) suggest an exercise where you try an account for any money you’ve ever spent. I’m sure it would add up! I’m not going to do it, but I think it might be a good exercise for some people. Maybe you should try it? 😛 I’m sure it would take the better part of a weekend! Hehe
Nah, I won’t revisit the past. I’ve never regretted anything (apart from playing the silver flute maybe… see my version of traveling back in time).
Even my mistakes have been good for something 😉