Regrets? No! Well not many

This weekend the world decided that I needed to be reminded, firstly that I am indeed a grown up whatever illusions I may be living under and secondly that I am not very good at it. There is nothing that says you’re old like bumping into a friend whilst doing the weekly shop, or getting excited because the laundry basket is finally empty, or proudly surveying your gleaming oven. That pride diminishes somewhat when you discover that your now shiny oven will remain that way, as it no longer works because you got water in a part of it that really shouldn't get wet, and now all it does it make a nasty, electrical burning, smell when you switch it on.

I also had a conversation this weekend about how old you would like to be if you could choose, it seems 18 and 21 are quite popular. It got me thinking, and frankly screw that, when I was 21 I was unmotivated, regularly drunk, smoking way too much, quite fat and I had no self esteem. If I could go back and give my 21 year old self a massive slap then maybe rock up around 22 or 23, that could be fun. To be honest though, there isn’t a lot I’d change, don’t get me wrong I never imagined that aged 30 I’d be doing “admin” and  would have only just moved out of my parental home, but equally I wouldn’t be where I am had I not taken the path I did. Take out a few vital steps and I’d probably be an obese hoarder living in my parents garage with no prospects. Look at it like that I’m doing pretty well. I’ve not had 10 years of therapy for nothing. I guess if I could change something, I’d just speed it all up a bit, even a couple of years would be nice, but then who doesn’t fancy having a bit more time. Just think, if I had a couple of extra years I could, at least, double the amount of words I have written on my work in progress, I’d be at nearly 20,000 words! If nothing else I would have time to create myself a slightly less random playlist to write to, why do I have the Seaseme Street theme tune?

I currently have two NVQ apprentices working with me at the office, they are both in their (very) early 20’s. So what advice should I give them about life since I am doing a fairly shabby job at teaching them about admin, hey I’m still winging it myself. I guess from me they would get, don’t waste your time, don’t second guess yourself and take the opportunities that present themselves. If I have regrets, they are missed opportunities rather than things I’ve done. I’d rather regret doing something than regret not doing it. Equally though, don’t waste your time, don’t indulge in stuff that is going to take time away from you, drugs are a good example, I’m not massively anti them, but if there is any chance you are going to spend your days doing nothing except possibly feeding your habit, don’t bother. There is loads of stuff out there to try, you’ll never manage it all, don’t waste your time on something that isn’t giving you anything back, all it does is keep you away from all the other cool stuff. If you want a buzz go skydiving, it’ll get you high in all senses, give you a rush and you’ll remember it in the morning!

So that’s what I’d tell the 20 somethings in my office and my 20 year old self, well that and listen to that Sunscreen song really carefully, it pretty much covers everything else.

Let me know if there is anything you’d add, or preferably just go and do something cool and tell me about that instead, for now however it’s late and there is a hot cross bun, with my name on it, downstairs!