Just thinking

I was watching journeyman last week and they posed the question, if you were to see your younger self what is the one thing you would tell yourself.
His past self was about 20 years old so keep it in that time frame.
I thought man I would tell myself lose the weight now. This is how big you are going to get, this is the health issues you will have and this is the life you will never live.

So it made me think, why is it that we have to experience something before we will make a change? Doctors tell us all the time what will happen if you are overweight but it makes no difference until you are in that situation. And even then it creeps up on you so you get used to it and don't realize it is as bad as it is until it is too late.
I don't know I was just thinking and wondered if anyone else thought like me.
I just wish I could go back in time and change things before it was too late and my life had passed me by.
And yet it would change every aspect of your life.
Thanks for listening.

Wed. Oct 31, 8:16pm

but it's not too late, and your life hasn't passed you by yet! sure, it would have been great to have known then what you know now...but at least you are finally doing something about it, so that has to count for something. Congratulate yourself on your accomplishments so far in turning your life and your health around!

it's never too late ;-)

Wednesday, October 31, 2007, 9:36 PM

Not necessarily in the weight loss aspect, but in other aspects of my life I have felt that I would really like to go back and explain some things to my younger self about how stupid I was acting. I'm still young, but I already have regrets.

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 9:48 AM

Sweetheart, We all have regrets, no matter the age. When you start showing maturity is when you recognize them as mistakes, and do what you can to correct them. Some of them can't be changed no matter what we do. Those you learn from and see how you can use the experience to better yourself or others. My dad, a funny old ex cop says, you live and learn. Some just live. Choose which you want to be. Don't beat yourself up. (Easier said than done) Where do you think the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" came from?
Best wishes.

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 12:01 PM

I would tell myself to dump the LOSER! Stop wasting time on stupid guys that break your heart and spend more time with your siblings, your family and your friends. I would tell myself about the wonderful guy that I get to spend my life with but that I dont even meet him until I am 25. and that he never makes me cry.
I would walk on the beach in the Carolina's everyday- there isnt one where you will live later.

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 1:53 PM

i guess that just tell us if we dont start NOW then 10 years from now we'll be saying the same thing. lets do it NOW!

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 2:00 PM

Well, knowing how strong willed I was when I was 20, I wouldn't go try to tell myself anything. I wouldn't have listened! Just as my kids don't listen to me now when I tell them to take care of themselves so they don't end up like me. They have that blank look on their faces and I know they're thinking "I'll never end up overweight and crippled like ma because I'm young and strong." Even though my son has been gaining a little weight and getting a bit pudgy the past few years (he's 25), he thinks he's invincible. It's just a couple "love handles, no biggie". Well I wish he could understand that's exactly how it started with me. Just a couple love handles. Then a little bit of a cute rounded belly. Then a bigger rounder butt. Then my thighs rubbed together and my knees looked pudgy. Then I had a double chin. Then the belly wasn't so cutely rounded anymore, it was just round! The creeping weight gain is insidous and if you don't do anything about it, you wake up one day looking like jabba the hut!

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 2:05 PM

I would tell myself to trust my gut feeling, it has never been wrong, yet many times I tried to ignore it as it screamed at me.

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 2:18 PM

I would tell myself use more sunscreen, and use it on my neck!

Thursday, November 01, 2007, 2:19 PM

I would tell myself not to worry so much, to have compassion about my own mistakes, to cut myself a few breaks. I would spend more time with loved ones and less time working. I would tell myself to listen closely and follow my heart.

Friday, November 02, 2007, 10:34 AM

I'm with 11/1 2:18 - my gut has never been wrong, not when I was 20 or even 10. Ignoring it has led to pockets of apathy, depression, weight gain, misery, etc. and the periods in between were spent undoing the damage.

Friday, November 02, 2007, 10:53 AM

I would tell myself to stop trying to escape by drinking all the time. I'd tell myself to hold on because Jesus is going to rescue me from myself in just 4 short years and that I've got the best life ahead of me with a wonderful husband and beautiful childrend and it's all going to be worth it so hold on, baby, hold on!

Friday, November 02, 2007, 11:40 AM

OP here
Thanks for your comments. Sometimes it helps to have an ear.
And to know that we, well many of us go through the same things. Different reasons, same outcome.
I appreciate the input, I guess it helps to validate my feelings.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007, 3:26 AM

I would tell my younger self that the kids really will grow up and she really will get her life back, and sooner than she thinks. She was so stressed about all the demands and all the things she never got to do...Now I am doing them all and more, but I wish I'd been less stressed when I was her, and just focused on the kids for that little while without feeling torn.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007, 9:34 AM

9:34- I love yours. I'm going to take thaat one to heart.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007, 9:52 AM

I would tell myself to be nicer to my husband. I wasn't for a long time. I was mad and I thought it was all his fault. One day I realized I was a very nice person to everyone but him. Things are better now but I wish I started that way.

On the weight issue, one thing has always stuck in my mind. A few years ago my girlfriend told me that her mother-in-law (age 76) had lost about 45 pounds and was down to a 8-10. She was about size 16 or more most of her adult life prior. She said with regret, 'i just don't know why I didn't do this YEARS ago'. The thought that she could have enjoyed her smaller, more fit body for 30 years instead of 5-10 just stuck with me and inspires me to keep trying today.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007, 4:00 PM

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