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Would anyone(if possible) go back to being a teenager?

(88 Posts)
Delia22 Sun 31-Mar-24 12:12:16

If time travel became possible😊 would any of you choose your teen years to re visit? If not then,which age would you choose?

mae13 Sun 31-Mar-24 18:33:05

Well, cannot believe how naive I was in my teens but I gradually realised that, over the decades, I STILL think the same damn way and make the same stupid mistakes. Now that really is naive!

Experience has taught me nothing.

Delia22 Sun 31-Mar-24 18:23:31

I (like some other posters) would have liked to be more confident. However as with other aspects of personality,that comes with age. I didn't have any serious boyfriends as a teenager.I suppose DH was my first SERIOUS! However,would I choose to go back...,no I don't think so. I enjoyed becoming a mum to my two daughters. Again, like others,I was more confident with my second.That's pretty normal I think.

Lollin Sun 31-Mar-24 18:17:26

Only if it meant I could have altered things so that I could have met my DH earlier but I don’t think it was the right time so I would worry it would alter meeting him and having our DC in which case definitely not.

MissAdventure Sun 31-Mar-24 18:08:49

It's complicated.
Some of the years were the best, and the worst.

I enjoyed my 30s though.

Visgir1 Sun 31-Mar-24 17:50:25

Yes agree around 17.. I would do things so different.
Loved being 23 though.

Shelflife Sun 31-Mar-24 17:44:06

I recognize I was very fortunate, happy childhood and happy teenage years. Although like many people it would be interesting to go back with the knowledge and wisdom I have now. I was not a confident teenager , thought I was overweight ( I wasn't!!!) Apart from that my teenage years were wonderful. I know how lucky I was, working in a job I loved , at home with Mum and Dad , how lucky was I !

dogsmother Sun 31-Mar-24 17:34:10

No. Almost certainly gave my family a hard time. My education was appalling. I made some dreadful decisions and had some awful abusive things happen to me too.
Would I be the person I am today and would I have raised my children with my amazing current (standing joke )husband no not all. So despite everything I would change nothing.

nadateturbe Sun 31-Mar-24 17:31:38

If U could go back with the wisdom I have gained most definitely yes.

Whiff Sun 31-Mar-24 17:29:48

I met my husband when I was 16 he was 18. Unfortunately he died when he was 47 ,20 years ago. Going back in time wouldn't change the outcome of our life.
I will be 66 next month but in my mind I feel 50. But I love my life as it is. My love and grief for my husband doesn't get any easier as the years go by . But we had a good life and marriage and cherish the life we had.

Going back in time wouldn't change anything as we would still be the same people and still do things the good ,bad and unadvisable.

Live your life to the full now and don't worry about if onlies or what ifs.

notoveryet Sun 31-Mar-24 17:19:48

No I was badly bullied during my early teens which affected many of my adult years.

Macadia Sun 31-Mar-24 17:02:50

Interesting wish, BigLouis . How would that have given you a happier life?

JamesandJon33 Sun 31-Mar-24 17:00:32

BlueBell Oh yes, me also. I fell in love then and have never forgotten him .

Marydoll Sun 31-Mar-24 16:52:29

Macadia

I wouldn't go back to being a teenager because those years were miserable but I would love to be back in my 40's when every day I was surrounded by my children at home. I love them more than anything. I miss those family days.

That resonates with me.

Macadia Sun 31-Mar-24 16:50:32

I wouldn't go back to being a teenager because those years were miserable but I would love to be back in my 40's when every day I was surrounded by my children at home. I love them more than anything. I miss those family days.

grandtanteJE65 Sun 31-Mar-24 16:39:02

In science fiction it is a feature of time travel that you must not change anything if you revisit your past.

If this is so, then I would not want to go back either to being a teenager or to any time in my adult life.

I would though happily be five again, just starting the big adventure of school!

Grandmabatty Sun 31-Mar-24 16:33:37

I don't believe in looking back and wishing I had done things differently. So I wouldn't relive my days as a teenager. I had fun, made mistakes and grew up. Each decade has had both highlights and lowlights. I live for today

Juliet27 Sun 31-Mar-24 16:08:16

I’d like to have been the oldest through my school years rather than the youngest which might have given me more confidence and maybe I’d have got to know myself and needs more.

Primrose53 Sun 31-Mar-24 15:58:43

I could have written what BlueBelle said! I spent too much time worrying about what people thought and pleasing others and not wanting to upset anyone and generally just being ā€œgoodā€.

I would go back to age 16/17 in a heartbeat. I would make my own choices about career, save money so I could travel and generally do what my heart told me to do. I was bright, slim, very attractive (not boasting - everyone said so) and had boyfriends galore and I do regret not experimenting more with the sexual side of things but this was pre pill and we were all terrified of getting pregnant.

Young girls of that age now seem so much more mature and confident and able to make their own decisions.

paddyann54 Sun 31-Mar-24 15:57:39

No,i'm very happy with how my life has gone even the really tough times .My OH is the love of my life ,my kids are lovely family orientated people with hearts of gold,my GC are beautiful,bright ,funny and the light of my life .
I have only one regret in my whole life and its not something that affects anyone else and I can and do live with it and sometimes dont even think of it for months at a time ,I am sure my lovely dad wouldn't have dropped dead in the street without me ever seeing him again if he'd had a choice ,so the regret is mine alone

Doodledog Sun 31-Mar-24 15:54:40

As with others, I'd do it if I could be the older me in a young body (wouldn't that be nice!), and could get rid of any and all regrets. It would be lovely to have my life in front of me, and even lovelier if I knew that this was the case. When you're young you just take youth for granted.

If I just had to relive a time in my life I wouldn't choose my teens though. I'd go back to when my children were little, and relive the time they were at home, with the benefit of hindsight to show me which battles were worth fighting.

VioletSky Sun 31-Mar-24 15:39:26

It wouldn't be a great situation to go back to but I'd work harder on my education and refuse to allow my family to sabotage it... So 11

Poppyred Sun 31-Mar-24 15:34:21

I’m glad I’m not the only one who made so many ā€˜mistakes’!!
Confidence and common sense comes with age unfortunately for most of us.

Oh well, I’ve made the best of things and count my blessings every day.

Joseann Sun 31-Mar-24 15:00:34

Aw Bluebelle, maybe at that difficult age we put so much pressure on ourselves, you were trying so hard to please. I don't know, but I think it's all about having self-worth, that you feel you are good enough to take on the world. Without being selfish, my focus as a teenager was always on individualism, a bit like an 18th century Romantic, with happy go lucky traits!
Mistakes aren't usually forever, and if we went back we might make equally bad choices second time round by over thinking.

Grandma70s Sun 31-Mar-24 14:51:58

I’d go back to my early 20s, when I was a postgraduate student in London. My only responsibility was writing my thesis, which I found easy. I spent all my spare time going to ballet and opera with a lovely group of friends. I loved the clothes - it was the 60s - and being tall and slim I was the right shape for them. I don’t think I have ever been quite as happy and carefree as I was then.

Sara1954 Sun 31-Mar-24 14:49:15

I would love to go back and have another crack at it. I was given opportunities I wasted, I was a magnet for bad boys, I made so many bad choices, infact for years I don’t think I made a good one.
I appreciate I’m lucky to have come out unscathed, but I would just love to go back and be given those opportunities again.