What one piece of advice would you give your twenty year old self?

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Because I wasn't listening to anyone when I was 10.

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:12 (sixteen years ago) link

Try and cut down the amount of time you spend in William Hill to less than 20 hours a week.

Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:13 (sixteen years ago) link

Computers ARE the future!

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:15 (sixteen years ago) link

take this idea for a website and do it now now now now do it

blueski, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:17 (sixteen years ago) link

there are (several) things i should have done differently at that age but then the wrong decisions i made then helped me get where i am now - and frankly these days i'm so overwhelmingly happy with myself (i feel blessed to be who i am!) that i wouldn't change a thing or give any of my past selves advice

(exception: for 16-yr-old self, come out earlier and you will prob get to mess around with hot boys in school)

lex pretend, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Buy a house, any house.

Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:23 (sixteen years ago) link

Get out. Look, just get out. Do not waste time, don't wait for your girlfriends or a boyfriend or your sister to go with you, just go. Don't be scared. You can move to NYC, or you can move back to London (your relatives *will* put you up! if you'd just asked...) but leave that awful town.

Oh, and stop drinking so damn much. You can't handle it.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Never ever ever ever ever go on a website called "I Love Music". Never.

the next grozart, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:26 (sixteen years ago) link

Leave him!

*rumpie*, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:27 (sixteen years ago) link

Buy a house, any house.

-- Scik Mouthy, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:23 (9 minutes ago)

So OTM :( I actually came on here to post that. I would also advise take up a sport so you would feel more confident about that sort of thing!

kv_nol, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:33 (sixteen years ago) link

do not, i repeat, do not take a 'year out' of art studies.

Ste, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:36 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh and be less loud, experiment as much as possible and learn a trade. Fuck a degree, you should learn how to be a plumber or something worthwhile that will mean you can afford nice things more often!

kv_nol, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:37 (sixteen years ago) link

That was not for Ste. That was still for 20 year old me!

kv_nol, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:37 (sixteen years ago) link

and make the most of the six year window of sex you're currently in, it kinda stops dead after that.

Ste, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:37 (sixteen years ago) link

ha, but it would have still made sense

Ste, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:39 (sixteen years ago) link

Sleeping with someone doesn't necessarily make them like you.

C J, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 10:59 (sixteen years ago) link

Stop fucking eating. Oh, and I see you're smoking now as well. Stop it.

accentmonkey, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Sleeping Marrying with someone doesn't necessarily make them like you.

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:03 (sixteen years ago) link

It's a joke Mrs T - a joke!

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:04 (sixteen years ago) link

That eating thing is exactly what I told my 20 year self, and my 21 year self and my 22 year old self...

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Also, just so you know? You are never going to marry Bernard Sumner, Sonic Boom or Mark Gardener. In fact you may well never marry anyone. Now stop worrying about it and pay more attention to the things in life you want to accomplish and stop letting boys get you all bent out of shape.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:06 (sixteen years ago) link

stop being so arrogant, you're no different from any other silly english major

get bent, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:17 (sixteen years ago) link

^that was to my 20 y.o.s.

get bent, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:18 (sixteen years ago) link

Never ever ever ever ever go on a website called "I Love Music". Never.

-- the next grozart, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:26 (47 minutes ago)


Actually, in a way, OTM. Such a place to waste time. Good people though so not v OTM in the end...

kv_nol, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:19 (sixteen years ago) link

No it's had its plus sides.

the next grozart, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:30 (sixteen years ago) link

Christ, I've written three different answers to this thread, but they're all too depressing to post.
So: "Remember that Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite of his every instinct. Do that."
That's a bit paradoxical though.

Frankly, I'd prefer telling my 17-yr old self a few things. That guy was the worst.

Øystein, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:31 (sixteen years ago) link

So: "Remember that Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite of his every instinct. Do that."

Haha, this sounds about right.

Rockist Scientist, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:37 (sixteen years ago) link

Do not under any circumstances borrow (what at the time felt like) loads of money off your parents, so you can take a train down almost the entirety of Germany in pursuit of a girl who's blatantly not in love with you, and will in fact pull someone else right in front of you when you go out clubbing, and then scream "I'm not your girlfriend!" at you in the toilets.

No, don't do that.

(haha I'm DJing at her wedding at the end of June though, so I guess we've all grown as people!)

Also, sign up to a Housing Association waiting list. NOW. I know it doesn't sound at all important, it is. Do it. DO IT.

CharlieNo4, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:38 (sixteen years ago) link

"Remember that Seinfeld episode where George does the opposite of his every instinct. Do that."

Weird - I watched this episode about 2 hours ago. "My name is George, I'm unemployed and I live with my parents".

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:42 (sixteen years ago) link

My advice to me would be similar to CJ's. Also 'he's not worth it' would be a useful catch-all tip for that time in my life. Sadly.

Archel, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:44 (sixteen years ago) link

This thread is strangely depressing. I far prefer the 10 year old self advice thread.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:59 (sixteen years ago) link

stay far away from the girl at the bar of a gig you will go to in six years time, staring at you with chocolate eyes and a smile that makes you melt... it will only end in tears.

stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:08 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm not sure I'd have a lot of advice for me at 20, other than the "buy a house" kind of stuff. I did get out of an unsuccessful relationship, I did lose a lot of weight, I did make a pretty decent deal out of university life, I didn't get arrested or do anything too ridiculously stupid.

Oh, hang on - "you're about to be dumped, so when you and N1cola D0herty sit among the fireflies and tell each other your deepest thoughts, kiss her - she DID like you that way after all, though if you don't make a move you won't find this out for another 2 years"

Mark C, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:11 (sixteen years ago) link

Also: Do NOT sell your Roland Juno-6 to crap metalheads that want to play Zeppelin shit on it. That's gonna be valuable some day.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:16 (sixteen years ago) link

This thread is strangely depressing. I far prefer the 10 year old self advice thread.

yes, this one is too soon. I'm still trying to sort out half the mess my 20yo got me into.

Ste, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:20 (sixteen years ago) link

sit among the fireflies and tell each other your deepest thoughts

haha INDIE!

thought of another one:

be less of a fucking flake when it comes to letter-writing, and then you won't live to regret never finishing (and thus never posting) that nice letter you started writing to the lovely girl who then too quickly died of cancer.

ugh. maybe 20 was a sucky time after all.

CharlieNo4, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:22 (sixteen years ago) link

i can think of so many things i want to say to my 20yo self dammit

blueski, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:22 (sixteen years ago) link

not least "e-mail the Pentagon from an internet cafe your info on the terrists"

blueski, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:23 (sixteen years ago) link

yes, this one is too soon. I'm still trying to sort out half the mess my 20yo got me into.

-- Ste, Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:20 PM (2 minutes ago)


For you maybe but some of us could have 30 year old and 40 year old threads as well. Although I think the only thing they would say to me at any rate is that I never listen to my own advice.

Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:25 (sixteen years ago) link

haha this thread will be useful

Just got offed, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:26 (sixteen years ago) link

The fact you've finally met some people who are (much much) better than you are at maths doesn't mean that you're shit and should give up on it altogether.

JimD, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:27 (sixteen years ago) link

have more sex.

titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:28 (sixteen years ago) link

live a bit more.

titchyschneiderMk2, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:28 (sixteen years ago) link

There's nothing very important that I could say now that I wasn't already aware of at twenty. I knew what I had to do; I just didn't do it.

Eyeball Kicks, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Buy Yahoo! stocks

Treblekicker, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:41 (sixteen years ago) link

Start paying back those student loans. Dropping out of college was a good choice; avoiding those debts is gonna make you miserable.

aimurchie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:43 (sixteen years ago) link

everybody is gonna fuck you over

g-kit, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:47 (sixteen years ago) link

when people shit on you and put you down, 90% of the time its because they're envious of you and the things you want to achieve. so don't listen to them.

stevie, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:53 (sixteen years ago) link

start fucking revising, like, NOW

Just got offed, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:53 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh, Stevie so OTM. Someone told me this when I was 30, but I still didn't listen: If people just dislike you for no apparent reason, it says a lot more about *them* than it does about you. Pay no mind.

Masonic Boom, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 12:56 (sixteen years ago) link

You may be on a diet and successfully losing weight but you don't have to weigh your bran flakes before eating them, or count the number of raisins you consume, or eat two thirds of a pot of fromage frais.

Do not get totally completely utterly swept away insanely by the first man ever to kiss you one year later out of gratitude that someone finally has.

Cut your straggly witchy hair.

Do not buy clothes from Wallis. They are for women who work in offices, not students.

ljubljana, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:09 (sixteen years ago) link

But you totally made the right decision about where to go on your looming year in Russia. It will rock your mind.

ljubljana, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:11 (sixteen years ago) link

c'mon raggett, answer this thread already! ;-)

Just got offed, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:18 (sixteen years ago) link

get a job

deej, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Stop doing speed, it really is not very cool. In fact it's quite shameful.

Drooone, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:26 (sixteen years ago) link

start doing speed, if it helps you get a job

deej, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:28 (sixteen years ago) link

stop drinking now.

lurex, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:31 (sixteen years ago) link

i don't know about myself, but when i see 17 and 18 year olds in my neighborhood congregating in a nervous, conspiratorial huddle RIGHT IN FRONT of the liquor store as their compatriot with the fake ID tries to score for them, I think "good work New York Public School system".

sanskrit, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:34 (sixteen years ago) link

well this is nice and cheery!

start the amazon job three months earlier, before that one stock split!
ummm, maybe don't do heroin?
and don't cheat on that one girl, she is way too awesome, you dumbass!
and don't marry that other girl, okay.

Mike McGooney-gal, Tuesday, 15 May 2007 23:43 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah, it's fun to have your friends push you around campus in a shopping cart all day cuz you're still drunk from yesterday and drinking, but you're taking some really fucking cool classes and you'll wish later that you had taken the opportunity to get some learnin' (especially the writing classes -- and come to think of it you should have maybe majored in English instead of German).

go now to sign up for a DJ slot at WESU - don't worry about acting nervous around that guy there you think is cute

if a guy reminds you of your step-parent (most likely in a brooding, stoned/drunk way), that shouldn't be your cue to be his puppy (but kudos on picking the songwriter over the programmer). Just cuz you made out doesn't mean you're now that someone's girlfriend. Even if you are somebody's girlfriend, hang out with other people too besides him.

No, the economy will not crash completely, thereby freeing you from your student loan obligation.

When you're done with college, move to Europe on your own if you want. You don't need to find a brooding/stoned/drunk European to take you there (and don't marry him; he's really mean and you're never going to fix him!)

Maria :D, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:30 (sixteen years ago) link

"Relax. Stop being such an INTENSE DUDE."

Sparkle Motion, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link

Start studying some Japanese.

j-rock, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:42 (sixteen years ago) link

I would share this quote I heard (can't remember who...):

"When I was 20 I worried all the time what people thought about me. When I was 30 I decided to stop caring what people thought. When I turned 60 I realized that no one had ever been thinking about me!"

for 16-yr-old self, come out earlier and you will prob get to mess around with hot boys in school

Fuck yeah lex!! I wasted my tannest, cutest years feeling guilty and paranoid about liking boys, when I could've been shagging the whole swim team.

King Kitty, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link

I wd also tell myself sure, move to Melbourne. Dont, however, do so for that guy you like. He's a basket case and will send you into a breakdown in four years time.

Trayce, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:05 (sixteen years ago) link

Well, there are several things I would pass on:

Learn how to break up, and how to stay broken up.

You don't have to be right about everything music-related. Other people don't always like what you like, and it's totally okay.

Not everything needs a witty remark or a "funny" observation. You're funnier when you're not hell-bent on being the life of the party.

You could be getting laid exponentially more if you knew how to a) relax, b) not waste your time on girls who just don't like you that way and c) shut the fuck up more.

Tantrum The Cat, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:07 (sixteen years ago) link

b and c should be tattooed on the insides of my eyelids.

chicago kevin, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:09 (sixteen years ago) link

you know, maybe i have a learning disability.

chicago kevin, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:09 (sixteen years ago) link

Your housemates will like you a lot more if you do the washing up a few times a week

badg, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 02:21 (sixteen years ago) link

I really don't like some of the things in this thread! I still can't stop reading though. Good thoughts all roun, well done all for making it this far beyond!

kv_nol, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 09:53 (sixteen years ago) link

i would have nothing to say to that little cunt

electricsound, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 10:11 (sixteen years ago) link

"Booze will only make you a twat."

Noodle Vague, Wednesday, 16 May 2007 10:14 (sixteen years ago) link

don't rob
take your fucking tranquilizers, you psychotic fucktard
don't take tranquilizers and leave the oven, you will almost die
keep your eye on the lol

luriqua, Saturday, 19 May 2007 06:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Don't start threads shitting on the look dudes a few years your senior still love.

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 19 May 2007 09:05 (sixteen years ago) link

There's no point in life at which you can can say "Now I've arrived - now I'm content, I've finally pulled myself together/accepted myself as I am ".

Bob Six, Saturday, 19 May 2007 11:07 (sixteen years ago) link

Ditch the waistcoat and shirt thing, love, you'll look back and shudder.

Get some hypnosis, and some assertiveness lessons.

Its not unique to you, its called OCD, do something about it.

you're actually quite young. No, really.

You haven't actually accepted being gay, though you think you have. And the gay people you're hanging around with aren't helping. Ditch the gay scene for a bit, learn to like yourself, take up meditation maybe. It'll save you getting 11 years older and realising you haven't been okay about this for a long, long time.

Oh, and bleaching your hair will make it fall out. Hell, do it anyway, though.

I probably wouldn't have listened to any of this. 'cept the last one.

hobart paving, Saturday, 19 May 2007 11:24 (sixteen years ago) link

ride your bike.

emsk, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:04 (sixteen years ago) link

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver arent you your 20 year old self right now?

ȡ+®, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:07 (sixteen years ago) link

JUST FUCKING SPLIT UP WITH HER AND STOP BEING A DICK. then go and do a power of shagging.

grimly fiendish, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:14 (sixteen years ago) link

Yes xpost

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:15 (sixteen years ago) link

There should be a sister thread to this which explains the cryptic advices.

libcrypt, Saturday, 19 May 2007 17:24 (sixteen years ago) link

maybe you really should go to disney world with the rest of your family, instead of, you know, staying inside of that dark house for one month straight, being nocturnal, and listening to this mortal coil all the fucking time.

andi, Saturday, 19 May 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link

Listen to more AC/DC.

kenan, Saturday, 19 May 2007 18:23 (sixteen years ago) link

"GET YOUR ASS TO MARS."

schwantz, Saturday, 19 May 2007 18:30 (sixteen years ago) link

FINISH SCHOOL. Quit being so boy-crazy already. Don't be such a rockist. Also, that stuff your dad says isn't true, so don't let it affect your life in such a manner that you shoot yourself in the foot just to spite him.

Morley Timmons, Saturday, 19 May 2007 19:40 (sixteen years ago) link

Don't let your parents and brother make you feel so guilty. Don't open their letters, don't pick up their phone calls (started at 23 and life=easier x2k).

Abbott, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:00 (sixteen years ago) link

"sorry, the vikings still suck"

the sir weeze, Saturday, 19 May 2007 20:06 (sixteen years ago) link

that trend you hold on to so hard -- it'll be ass-backwards soon. by the time you catch up, you'll be ass-backwards again.

PappaWheelie V, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:01 (sixteen years ago) link

"cheer up, little guy"

andi, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:37 (sixteen years ago) link

also: quit hanging out in the fucking dark so much. switch a light on and fix your sleeping schedule, you bloody goth!

andi, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:39 (sixteen years ago) link

Poll: Ten Crack Commandments

milo z, Saturday, 19 May 2007 21:40 (sixteen years ago) link

No, the economy will not crash completely, thereby freeing you from your student loan obligation.

lolz i was so sure this would happen too!

bell_labs, Saturday, 19 May 2007 23:26 (sixteen years ago) link

Learn how to start a lawnmower.

Beth Parker, Sunday, 20 May 2007 15:11 (sixteen years ago) link

Stop spending so much time in the pub and go to some classes. You'll be less inclined to drop out of university and spectacularly underachieve. Also, not every band the NME recommends is worth spending your money on. You'll look back at your record collection in ten years time and wish it was better.

ailsa, Sunday, 20 May 2007 15:18 (sixteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

"GET YOUR ASS TO MARS."

― schwantz, Saturday, May 19, 2007 6:30 PM (7 years ago)

lol

local eire man (darraghmac), Friday, 24 October 2014 23:49 (nine years ago) link

Don't worry if you don't feel academically qualified for the majors you want to pursue. Many of your burnout space-case high school friends will end up with successful careers mostly because they picked something and stuck with it.

raccoon shipoopi (how's life), Saturday, 25 October 2014 00:59 (nine years ago) link

seven months pass...

I've thought a lot about what advice Id give my 20 year old self. But there's nothing I'd tell him not to do, because he wouldn't listen to me anyway, and the embarrassing humiliating things I did back then (eventually) made me a better person. Instead I would say this: Achieving extraordinary goals requires that you do a lot of very ordinary things. Don't put off doing these things, because otherwise your future self (me) is going to regret the time you wasted in ways that you can't begin to comprehend or even imagine.

passive-aggressive rageaholic (snoball), Saturday, 6 June 2015 19:23 (eight years ago) link

I'd basically tell myself to quit feeling like the world owed me anything, not to shun people who are trying to be friendly, to not sacrifice the future for the present, and mostly, to move out of my parents' house and never move back in.

I feel like my life rebooted at age 28 and often regret the years I wasted prior to that.

Hammer Smashed Bagels, Saturday, 6 June 2015 20:04 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

Kill yourself.

emil.y, Wednesday, 8 July 2015 23:27 (eight years ago) link

:(

Evan, Thursday, 9 July 2015 00:50 (eight years ago) link

eight years pass...

god, i've thought about this one a lot. i have these little conversations in my head with 20-year-old me. i don't know what to say to them. some middle-aged transsexual shows up at their doorstep and says "hi, i'm you from the future"? i'm 30-year-old me's worst nightmare, but 20-year-old me... i just got kicked out of school because my oldest brother made death threats from my internet account. i got no idea what the hell is going on with my gender. what the hell do i say to them? "so ok you're a girl, but nobody is going to believe you if you tell them that. hell, _you_ probably don't believe that, nevermind that i'm standing here in front of you right now." and then what? what are they supposed to do? move across the country to portland or seattle, make money doing sex work, live on the streets? find a place to get bootleg estrogen, because god knows nobody would prescribe it _legally_? live my best twink life until i can transition? stay in the midwest but just start wearing dresses and let people treat me like shit? my mom _probably_ wouldn't kick me out of the house if i started wearing dresses. _probably_.

i guess other shit i'd say would be, like. you're weird, but you're not ugly. your hair is really pretty, you should let it grow out. don't bother with a beard. don't bother with benzos, they'll fuck you up. wearing dresses will help you more than taking benzos will, even if you can only do it in private. makeup is hard and don't worry about it if you're bad at it. you might also wanna try taking ADHD meds, it'll help you concentrate. you definitely have ADHD. also autism. sex won't actually fix any of your problems, you don't like it, don't bother with it. don't bother with drugs, either. i know you're hoping they'll give you some great epiphany about your life, well, here i am, i've just given you it, you're a girl. only drug that's gonna do you any good is estrogen. well and the antidepressants and mood stabilizers and shit as well.

i don't know if that's good advice or bad advice. i don't know what my 20 year old self would make of me. i think they'd find me super scary but also super cool. is what i think.

Kate (rushomancy), Tuesday, 5 March 2024 16:00 (one month ago) link


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