If you could magically start over at twelve years old, would you?

28 comments

1. Eh probably not. If it was a “go back in time scenario” then I probably would, but only to make minor tweaks to my life.

2. Nah, if I could go back in time I would to make some changes in my life. But I wouldn’t want to be a kid and grow up in today’s climate.

3. Can I kill myself at 12? Is that an option?

4. At 12? Oh, fuck no.

5. Yes. Absolutely.

6. No. I wouldn’t want to be a kid now. I was 12 in 1982, and that seems like a better time to be a kid.

7. No.

   I would prefer to grow up where/when I did vs. where I live now.

   Besides, what happens with my wife and child in this scenario?

8. >You’re not going back in time

   Wait, as a twelve year old *now*?

   Jesus titty-fucking Christ, no.

   Kids these days have it so much harder than when I was their age. I think that when I was 12 (1999) was right around the last time that that age was not completely shitty (though the puberty years were never “good”).

   But man, social media has completely changed the game for how these kids socialize. We’re just now starting to see the ramifications of this as Gen Z enters adulthood. They can barely function. They’re all so anxious all the time in a way that is directly counter to how every other generation was so carefree at that age.

9. Lol fuck no, the next generations are fucked.

10. Certainly not in these times! But if I could go back to the year I was 12, I would.

11. 1000% yes

12. It would be pretty traumatizing for my wife and kids if I suddenly turned 12. Not sure my parents would be too happy about having to raise me for a second time. So no, I don’t think I would want to do that.

13. Yes. Without hesitation.

14. Not a chance. Even if I get to keep my life experience.

    If I got to go back to the 90s with that experience? Absolutely yes.

15. Depends. On who would take care of me and where I would live lol

16. I think I would be able to get a gf in high-school this time around.

17. There is nothing in heaven, on earth, or in the pits of hell that would get me to go back and redo my life.

    My life has been a very, very mixed bag. I have the absolute PRIVILEGE of being born into a wonderful family. My parents weren’t rich…but they weren’t poor either. I’m the youngest of 3 boys, so by the time I came around, as my parents have told me, they had money. I was also the least “parented” of the brothers. I don’t mean they were at all negligent; they just gave me a level of “you go do you” that was never afforded my brothers. I assume it’s mostly because 1) they learned that over-patenting doesn’t work, 2) I was a pretty trustworthy kid, and 3) they were just fucking tired. My oldest brother has explained that “[my] mom and dad aren’t the same as [his] mom and dad!”.

    I rebelled hard in my 20s. Drinking, smoking, got into an 8 year relationship with a woman that my parents didn’t like (to be fair, they tried, even though she didn’t give them much to work with). I explored so much shit, and it probably fucked me up more than I understand. But 9 years ago, I broke up with her and started a new leg of my life.

    In April of this year, I got married for the first time, at the age of 38. I married the single most amazing person I’ve ever met… and I’ve met some pretty amazing people in my life. I met her after just under 2 years of dating after my ex and I split. During that year and change, I made it a point to date AS MANY women as I could. I hit the apps hard. I had to reestablish what I wanted. I had a mostly good, occasionally awkward, rarely embarrassing experience. If I had to guess, I’d say I hooked up with 20 women in 18 months. A few more than once, one (not my wife) exclusively for like 4 months. That one is still one of my good friends to this day. Great gal; terrible partner for me.

    Then I met my wife. She is pretty much everything I’ve ever asked for in a woman. She allowed me to go back to school to become a nurse, thanks to her salary being able to support the both of us. I know everyone thinks they have the best relationship, but I’m not fucking with you. We have the best relationship. We disagree, but don’t fight. We discuss and solve. I’m never, ever “against” her; we are always on the same team so we compromise or relent to the other. She is a beautiful, tattooed, pierced, anxious, brilliant, sweet, nurturing, honest, relentless weirdo, and the most amazing human on the planet to me.

    That entire novel of a comment to say this: if I went back and changed a single thing, then I run the risk of not being with my wife, with my cat and dog, doing my job, and living this life. That is unacceptable to me. Any one of those things changing is an unacceptable loss to me. You could promise me 17 blow jobs a day and a billiom dollars to go back and I’d say no thank you.

    Did that answer your question?

18. Only if I could retain everything I know today when I went back. Wow, the changes I would make and the time I would have saved. I would have avoided certain people from my life while gravitating towards others. As a result I am pretty sure I would have been happier person.

    Otherwise what would be the point.

19. Sure with My experience snd confidence
    I could see a lot of those what if moment s being I’d memory s

20. That’s a yes from me. When you’re a kid you have the optimistic drive to save the world, but none of the wisdom yet to understand how it works. If you start over at 12 with the wisdom you have now, then MAYBE, you’ll have a shot at making an impact on the world (probably not saving it, but helping out at least).
    And I absolutely agree the current generations are getting shafted, and who better to help lead this generation through the upcoming difficulties, than someone with the wisdom and maturity of a grown adult? Yes, there’d be downsides, but I feel like you’d have the opportunity to help so many young people through the bullshit of today. You’d be one of them, yet so much wiser than them too.

    Also I’d be just a year older than my son. That sounds interesting.

21. Sure. Might catch the wave of medical advances and ride life until I don’t feel like it anymore, ideally in good enough shape to enjoy existing. Live long enough to grow tomatoes on Mars, maybe.

22. Yes. No hesitation.

23. Who is going to provide for me while I go to school?

24. Nnnnnnnnnnnnope.

25. Yes. I’d have more time to do what I’d like to do.

26. No way, not as you’re proposing. Maybe if it’s 1980 & I’m 12 & healthy.

    You’re talking about being a kid in a world where nothing is private, schools are prisons & pipelines thereto, socialization is unheard of, Americans are the poorest we’ve been since the Depression, on a planet with at least three potential filter events happening within the next three decades.

27. 100% without question. I can adapt to new kid bullshit. 6 years of not having to pay rent and bills while worrying about my debt and lost time? Easy trade.

    Unless I forget everything I know now. And then I’m just some kid. That would suck. I would end up making the same or worse mistakes. And today’s world really sucks. And who knows who my parents would be.

28. Go back in time yes I would. Lose everything just to be a child nowadays no, growing up today is not for me