Things you wished you would have done when you were younger.....

Taken 2 weeks per year, get in the car and drive. Suitcase, golf clubs, and just go.
If I had it to do over again, the first year, I would have started west.....did Vegas and up the California coast.

 

Gone to Europe...not drink so much....

 

Taken more time out to be a kid instead of being in a race to grow up, and not live in fear of making mistakes.
Not closed myself off to other opportunities so soon -- I was locked in on newspapers as far back as junior high.
Not been too proud/embarrassed/stupid to ask for help when I needed it -- cost me five years of wandering around in a daze while trying to get myself together.
Learned to cook something other than ramen and toast.

 

On the concrete side of life I wish I had learned to play a musical instrument. Didn't have the discipline.
On the more spiritual side, I wish I had learned much earlier that my actions affected others, both positively and negatively. I would have been way less thoughtless as a result.

 

This is a tough one, just because perspective changes things. Usually, without benefit of experience/perspective, people genuinely do what they think best at the time. Now, we're looking back.

That said, I'm with Michael_Gee with regard to learning to play a musical instrument well. I always liked to sing, and, at one time, was active in the church choir, participated in some performances, and could draw general compliments for my voice. I also was pretty good at playing the piano by ear and my parents paid for piano lessons for me for a while. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't take advantage of them then, though, and although I can still play certain things, and can still read (basic) music, never practiced enough to become truly good at it. Now, I still give thought, sometimes, to starting to play/take lessons regularly again, on my own. But I don't know if it'll ever really happen at this point.

I also would have given more thought to my career choice, instead of just, pretty much, sticking with what happened to catch me first -- journalism -- during college. Nowadays, I'd advise high school and college-age people to pick a field that, of course, they're interested in and might like, but also that, generally speaking, pays well.

I'm not materialistic, at all, but there's no denying the benefits, in almost every respect, of having more money, and I'd say to make that a major consideration in your choice of career fields. You'll be able to set yourself up better, both for whatever your current life holds, and for the future, and to live much better and more comfortably in your retirement and during your elder years if you have more money. I look back now, and, because I've always been good with my money, I often think if I'd made even, say, $50,000 a year for any length of time at all during my prime working years, I'd probably be close to wealthy and able to do pretty much whatever I might want now and in the future, as opposed to having to save constantly, and pick and choose what I'm going to do when. The opportunities that money can provide are practically limitless, and you can still be smart and good with money when you have it. Especially if you have it. (The stories of lottery winners who end up broke and miserable drive me crazy for the idiots that they must be to lose/blow it all. It's just inconceivable to me).

 

Invested wisely. Learned another language. Stood up for that kid in class who got picked on.

 

Gotten laid more.

 

Gone into anything other than journalism.

 

I wish I had been a little more 'socially aggressive' in high school and college than I was. I was raised with a really strong "good kid" ethos and it paid off pretty well in terms of college, but I'm 35 now, and I feel like there are a lot of life experiences I sacrificed by playing it so straight, and it's left me feeling 10-15 years off the proverbial pace.

 

I wouldn't put it exactly that way, but there were opportunities I wish I had pursued more effectively. Let's just say there were times when it would have been appropriate to stop trying to be the good guy because that's not what she wanted in that moment. I wish I had known that 25 years ago.

 

I was a very good drummer when I was in Jr high/High school. Did everything by ear. When I was in 5th grade, and music teacher put a sheet of music in front of me, I just looked at him and said "I don't know how to do that."
Sometimes I wish I would have done more with that.