What do you regret?

[sms001]

Mine are both time related - especially poignant for a 17yo.

FVM. The future value of money.

I've done ok at saving my whole life, but as I'm now entering the home stretch I wish I'd been JUST a touch more aggressive. Don't sacrifice doing the things you can only do in your youth - spontaneous travel, shows, music, etc. but DO save something, even just a little, at every opportunity. It's much easier to tuck away five dollars when you're twenty than fifty when you're sixty.

Don't be late. More broadly, don't waste people's time.

You can repay almost anything in this world with enough effort - money, possessions, etc., but you can never give them back the time they spent waiting for you. This applies to little things like picking someone up for a movie and huge things like answers about life changing decisions. It's one of the most inconsiderate things you can do to another person.

[Mytical]

I regret blowing it the first time I went to college. Should have studied harder, not left because ran out of money, and focused more on long term.

I regret my trip to West Virginia, chasing somebody who did not want me. I regret that I have not had more to give to my friends, family, and loved ones. I regret wasting a sharp mind for mathmatics. I regret going into infantry when I tried to join the military. When I could have done some much better. After all, my ASVAB was 95 out of 99. I could have gotten anything I wanted.

My life has many regrets, but you know.. I am not sure I would change anything at all now. Because now I have Marm in my life, and it makes everything else well worth it.