If you knew then what you know now

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If you could be fifteen again with all your current knowledge, how would you live your life differently? Would you have a different career? Would you study something different? Go somewhere else? Date someone else? Do anything else differently?

Then I would not have gone to San Diego because it is materialistic, superficial and homophobic

College is not tabboo, but not as great as society acts like it is

But not STEM

Major in a trade, like Accounting or carpentry

Or no college at all

Being alone is not that bad either

Better to be alone, than have to put on a facade

No workaholic

Balanced life

Psychotherapy

Internet forum


Military, guaranteed MOS

I have wasted far too much time and energy already asking myself questions like this; especially on the many, many occasions since I discovered in my mid-forties that I'm autistic. Learning from one's mistakes is, of course, advisable; but I find it's better for my mental health to avoid fantasising about what might have been.

NB: Just my personal opinion - not meant as a thread-killer or criticism of the OP.

Trogluddite is spot on.

Don't look backwards; you're not going that way.

This is a useful exercise. It can clarify how I intend to go forward from my current age, and also provide guidance to younger people. Of course, the range of opportunity is also different now, and not as well known as the past.

Mostly, I would navigate with much better vision, knowing the difference between EQ and IQ. I used to think that the kids with friends were just bluffing about their struggles with math. I might have seen some reason to go and get a piece of paper from a University, instead of just using the library there and expecting people to evaluate a masterpiece. I might have learned to socialize with my peers there, or at least make more useful connections.

I would of given drugs a wide birth but this would of made me less social and my weirdness would of shone through more

Piobaire

You made it good point



The problem is , that at the time, I was full of false confidence when I made wrong decisions

It makes me reluctant to do anything, today, because I do not want to do anything wrong, based on false confidence

Unwarranted confidence is considered normal. Without it, we have "depressive realism." When opportunity arises, only the optimists will be quick enough to get on board. The trick isn't to be right, but to recover quickly from mistakes. Life is a dynamic process, regulated by tension between opposites. If you wish to withdraw, go for Sainthood, not resignation.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

SNITCH ON YOUR BROTHERS!

BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF T.B., S.J., D.D., B.A., N.D. and C.C.!

FORGET MARCHING BAND - TAKE SHOP CLASSES!

And turn down your uncle's offer to sell you that old Army Jeep.

Do not be workaholic or sloth

Balance

Keep perspective

Take computer science, not GATE

Take Spanish not french

Keep a journal

Try harder to relax (oxymoron)

Being alone, is not as bad as precious lil "people" act like it is

The experiences I have had, make me what I am today. Lessons learned throughout a lifetime can't be absorbed by a 15 year old brain. Or at least, not my 15 year old brain. It's more a construct of life that is known now, rather than a specific action taken or omitted, that has made my life better.

I agree that 15 year olds can't contain the wisdom of their elders, due to lack of experience. Also, I don't imagine having precognition on how various struggles would turn out. However, I do think that I could have learned a great deal and saved much time if given a few basic, useful concepts. I thought that manners were part of an old, dying culture. Now I see them as rules of thumb for dealing fairly with people who may be having a worse day than they indicate, or are otherwise different that I imagine them.
I would have paid much more attention to math if the examples given were not about a strange fruit market, but about how to improve a hot rod, or figure out consumer finance deals. It is astonishing that people expect to have no use for it. Also, I was 37 before I learned that my basic understanding of people was far off. When I had learned the "Golden Rule" at age two or three, it had changed my life, letting me avoid half the trouble I'd been getting into. I assumed that almost everyone was also trying to live by it, only hampered by missing data and sometimes inadequate processing.
I didn't even know that there were NTs, nor that they were willing to risk making life even more confusing by lying systematically. I didn't understand greed, and was an easy mark for con men.
At 15, I thought that superior people would only push buttons. I was lucky to discover the practicality of urban bicycling, because physical fitness brings myriads of benefits to the brain.

At 15, I hated schedules and tidy-up. Soon after I left home, I was only sleeping about four times a week. I didn't know that regular meals and bedtimes usually produced more and better work. I wish someone had suggested that a few manic creative spells should not be the pattern to strive for daily.
For decades, I put up with difficult working conditions because, while I work well in a dynamic mess, I didn't bother to tidy up after each phase of a job unless I was sharing the space.
I didn't know the first thing about how to organize things. I was about forty before I saw a list of filing folders.
I would have been much cheerier about memorizing the genders of romance language nouns if someone had told me that in a noisy environment, it would double my chances of guessing correctly.
One thing I did get right was that I could wait for calculators instead of learning slide rule, but it would have been good for my head and my social life.
Just because I did something once does not mean I can do it again. Many things were only possible with a lot of recent practice, unlike basic swimming or bike riding.

#1 most important thing, I would have worked on improving my Sjogren's and LPR ASAP. My life is sooo much better now, having only learned about them recently, it would have been amazing to start treatment at 15 (and I would have had awesome health insurance!)

Everything else is optional.

I would try to save a lot of those old computers/parts we had that my dad ended up tossing.

I would probably skip college, or maybe just study something different.

I'm not sure about girlfriends, that's a tricky one...as much as I would like to say "I would hold onto her for as long as possible", how do I even know that things would turn out the same way? I would probably skip over certain girls, knowing they were a waste of time...other girls, I might date, but it would be difficult, knowing that something better lies just a few years away. Some of them I might date for too long, only to realize that it was a mistake all along.

At any rate, some of my favorite girlfriends I happened upon by pure accident (sometimes very literally), so it would be kind of painful to relive all of that, knowing that the odds of meeting them again are slim to none. Unless Fate truly does exist.

I regretted dropping out of band, but I was 13 then, not 15.

Definitions, please.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sj%C3%B6gren_syndrome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngopharyngeal_reflux

ASAP = as soon as possible