If you had told me at 20 that I would _______________...

[princesss]

...I'd never have believed you.

I was talking with a friend of mine last night, and we were saying that it's funny how there are times in your life when you look back and say, "Wow. I never would have guessed that I'd be doing the things I'm doing now, but I can't imagine my life any other way!" The person I was at 20 (which was only 5 years ago!) wouldn't recognize me right now. I spent my weekend rock climbing and whitewater rafting, I am about to leave on a business trip for a company I never thought I'd work for, I play sports multiple times a week, and I'm living quite happily without a TV or a microwave (two things that I considered necessary to my very existance in college). The 20 year old couch potato, reality TV junkie who got a manicure every two weeks and hated doing anything that might chip it is a weird person to remember - I look at pictures and think, "I can't believe I used to be that girl. I'm SO MUCH happier now!" But if you'd asked me 5 years ago what I thought about adventure sports, I would have told you I wasn't one of those weird hippies that just wants to be outside all day.



So what is it in your life now that 20-year-old you wouldn't have recognized? Or are you the person you thought you'd be?

 

[mayerling]

If you had told me at 20 that at 30 I'd be living in the UK, I'd never have believed you.

I'd always intended to go to the UK for graduate school, but I never thought I'd stick around afterwards.

 

[Trekkie]

...not pass my driving test until I was 27, I would have thought you were nuts. I finally passed it today, after driving for 13 years.
...move to a small town in South Africa and be happy here, I would have laughed at you. But here I am, in a small South African town and surprisingly happy.
...never again be a UK size 6 I would have dropped dead on the spot.

 

[ksinger]

....would not have believed that I'd end up marrying the man I was planning to marry (but didn't) - 25 years LATER.

Wait til you're 50, the amazement of what you did/didn't do, and how your life twisted and turned in unexpected ways, won't be amazement anymore, it will just be a permanent state of mind - old hat.

 

[bee*]

If someone had told me that I'd still be in college at 30, I'd have laughed at them.

Also I adore sport and go to the gym about 4/5 times a week every week now, I would would not have believed that at 20. I used to hate exercise.

 

[princesss]

If someone had told me that I'd still be in college at 30, I'd have laughed at them.

Also I adore sport and go to the gym about 4/5 times a week every week now, I would would not have believed that at 20. I used to hate exercise.

Bee*, same here! I was such a sloth and now I get antsy if I don't get in the gym/climbing gym/to play ultimate multiple times per week. I hurt my ankle and have to give myself a few days off and I'm *already* anxious about not being able to work out. It just drives me nuts to sit still.

 

[dragonfly411]

- you'd told me that I'd fall in love with yellow gold. I'd have laughed.
- you'd told me that I'd be a fitness fanatic. HA! What are workouts?
- you'd told me that my career would not involve lots and lots of horses. I'd have probably punched you, or been extremely angry.

 

[Autumnovember]

If someone would have told me that I would be getting married at the age of 23, I would have had a laughing fit and I would have definitely said that they were absolutely nuts.

If someone would have told me that I'd have an apartment in Rittenhouse square, Philadelphia, I would have said that it would never be possible as I have always thought it would just remain a "dream/fantasy."

If someone would have told me that I would graduate with Magna Cum Laude, I would have never believed it....mainly because at 20, the effort and motivation that I was putting into college just doesn't compare to the amount of motivation I put into school at 21 and on.

If someone would have told me that I would be completing my 2nd degree at 23, I would have said "nah, I hate school...I refuse to go through anymore schooling."

If someone would have told me that I would definitely want to do an accelerated MSN program after finishing my BSN, I really really would have laughed.

If someone would have told me that both my parents would be facing serious health complications, I would have started having the attitude of "seize the day" a lot sooner and I would have become a lot more closer to my father sooner.

If someone would have told me I'd be the proud owner of an absolutely amazing dog, my heart would have melted but I would say, "I don't have the money."

 

[Lauren8211]

...get married at 26 and then become a STAY AT HOME WIFE (almost mommy!), my jaw would have hit the floor.
...have already met my husband,and that it wasn't my current boyfriend, I would have laughed.
...not have any of the same friends in 8 years, I would have been shocked.
...found a really tight group of friends on the internet - a diamond website, and that they would travel regularly across the country to see one another, I would have wondered when I turned so nerdy that I met friends online!

 

[bee*]

If someone had told me that I'd still be in college at 30, I'd have laughed at them.

Also I adore sport and go to the gym about 4/5 times a week every week now, I would would not have believed that at 20. I used to hate exercise.

Bee*, same here! I was such a sloth and now I get antsy if I don't get in the gym/climbing gym/to play ultimate multiple times per week. I hurt my ankle and have to give myself a few days off and I'm *already* anxious about not being able to work out. It just drives me nuts to sit still.

It's crazy isn't it! I had the day off today and went to the gym this morning and this evening. A little bit obsessed but I suppose it's not a bad thing to be obsessed about.

 

[Autumnovember]

....would not have believed that I'd end up marrying the man I was planning to marry (but didn't) - 25 years LATER.

Wait til you're 50, the amazement of what you did/didn't do, and how your life twisted and turned in unexpected ways, won't be amazement anymore, it will just be a permanent state of mind - old hat.

My mom has always told me this....I think I'm starting to catch on

More times than not, life DOESN'T go according to plan....and life can change in just a fraction of a second.

 

[fieryred33143]

Like Elle, if you would have told me that my best friends would come from a diamond website I found during a google search, I never would have believed you. and boy am I lucky to have these girls in my life!

-have my first child before 30, I would have scoffed at you.
-have a masters, I would have thrown a shoe at you because I was so over school.
-still not be in a house, I would have laughed. Turns out it's not as easy as it looks.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

If you had told me at 20 that I would have any interest in diamonds whatsoever, I'd have laughed at you.

Also, if you had told me I had turned 30 and STILL wasn't a millionaire, I would have been pretty disappointed. In fact, I AM disappointed!

 

[zoebartlett]

I know there must be others, but I can only think of one right now.

If you had told me that I'd be in the profession I'm in, I never would have believed you.

 

[chemgirl]

Married to DH. I would have made a funny face and disbelieved it entirely. I knew him when I was 20, but because of extenuating circumstances he was very far from being on the radar. He was just a guy who I saw at parties a handful of times and barely spoke to.

Working in my profession. I was working part time at a psych hospital when I was 20 and convinced that I would end up being a neurologist!

 

[tigian]

If you told me at 20 that I would be the sole provider for the household, I would have thought you were absolutely insane. I was convinced I would marry rich!

 

[purselover]

Have left the fashion industry after a year I would have said your crazy I have a VIP career ahead of me

After leaving fashion I'd work in a famous museum I would have said "eww a nonprofit they won't pay enough"

I would be married to my DH at 24 and wearing my mom's ering I would have said "no way! I'm holding out for a Cartier/Harry Winston/Graff."

I'd be back in school to be an elementary school teacher in NYC I would have LMAO, because who wants to be a teacher when they could have a real career and make real money?

.....yeah I was just a touch shallow at 20

Also if you told me -that I'd love to cook/bake, do yoga I would have said I'd never be "one of those women"

And that I would hardly speak to my childhood best friend, and my best friends now are the people I thought I'd never be friends with again I'd think you'd lost your mind!

My life the past few years has definitely taken a few crazy turns, but I love the person I'm becoming!

 

[Haven]

If you told me at 20 that I'd be married and living where I live, I would have laughed in your face.

 

[NOYFB]

....move to a huge city and be successful (I grew up in Amish country) I would have laughed at you
....go to college at age 30 and go on to get a graduate degree I would have rolled my eyes
....have 13 tattoos, including 1/2 sleeves and a full back piece, I would have told you you were absolutely insane!!!
....marry a musician and spend my life listening to him play (and loving it) I would have been thrilled and excited!

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

If you told me that I would never use my college degree and would end up in massage therapy school balancing chakras and using essential oils, healing crystals and pendulums, I would have told you that you're mad!

Also, I never would have believed you if you told me I'd be as happy as a clam listening to NPR during my morning and afternoon commute!

 

[Black Jade]

If you'd told me at twenty that one day I'd be considered to have ultra-conservative opinions, I'd have been extrremely surprised. I was considered to be very radical in my youth. What is funny about this is that my opinions really haven't changed much, if at all, but what is considered mainstream now is very different, 40 years later.
I wouldn't have believed that one of my kids could be bipolar (they called it manic=depressive then) that was something I read about in textbooks that seemed very alien.
I wouldn't have believed that there would be such a thing as the internet and that I would spend time talking to total strangers on it, even fifteen years ago.
I wouldn't have believed that I would be considered a success in my profession at middle age, either--not because I was unduly modest and thought that I was not bright enough, but because I spent almost no time on it during a huge portion of my life and concentrated instead on being a SAHM and raising kids. This was swimming against the mainstream when I made this choice and the received wisdom then was that your brain would rot from talking baby talk all day and changing diapers and that you would know no intelligent people and that if by some miracle these things did not happen, you would never get hired again because of the gap in working history. I feel very thankful and grateful that this scenario did not come to pass and am glad I stayed home especially because of the thing above, one child turning out to be bipolar, I dread to know what would have happened if I had not been around him a lot (and the other kids who are affected by the situation of course)and had a lot of input. It doesn't always look good and I don't know if this will have a happy ending or not but I am very glad I have been on the spot, so to speak.
Also, when I was twenty, if you had told me about a lot of the different things that have happened over the years since, I wouldn't have believed that I would consider my life to be basically a very happy and lucky one up to this point. At that age, I thought you could only be happy if things always went the way you planned and wanted--and I was super confident that I could make things go my way all the time (or at least most of the time) through hard work and determination. But while those are good qualities, there are things that they do nothing to help or change.

 

[Amber St. Clare]

that I would have lived this long and ended up a suburban housewife.

I never thought I'd make it to 30, let alone 59.

i would have made better choices in terms of how I treated my body. I think I'll leave it at that.

 

[HopeDream]

I'm not 30 yet, but at 20 I had no firm Ideas about what my life would be like. I don't think anything I've done since would surprise 20 year old me, except for finding a fiance. I always thought I'd have the life of a spinster.

 

[galeteia]

If you had told me:

1. That I would find someone I wanted to marry, I would have been offended. I was quite anti-marriage. (still am, to an extent)

2. That I would be living in the US, legally shacked up with an American, I would have laughed in your face and assumed you were drunk.

3. That I would sacrifice my dreams and my career for the sake of a man, I would have gone into therapy to get my head examined.

4. That I would be living in Texas, I would have jumped off a cliff.

If I'd only known ...

Now if only someone could have pointed out my ex and said "See that? Don't do it. Just don't." THAT would have been worthwhile!