Changing one's past, changing one's self

[wispfox]

People seem to like posing questions about what they might do differently, if they had the choice to go back in time and change things in their lives.

The funny thing about this is that, _even during my worst moments_, there has never been a time I wanted to go back and change things.

This is partly because I always think of it in terms of knowing what I knew then, were there other choices for me to make, and _not_ with the knowledge I have gained since then. And partly because everything I have done, been, and gone through has made me who I am now. And I like who I am, even with my various flaws and things I want to work on.

Some (most?) of the stuff that sucked was effectively life giving me a slap upside the head to teach me something that it'd been trying to teach me for years. In all cases, I eventually got the point - it just took a lot, sometimes. And often took other people's perspectives, since I'm pretty bad at figuring out what general concept belongs with a bunch of specific examples.

Some of the stuff that sucked was simply a part of growing up in the family I grew up in. There was nothing I could have done differently without also being someone other than myself.

So, now, I find myself wondering. Those of you reading this post - how do you answer the original question? Would you change things in your past? Either way, why?

A similar question would be whether or not one would change stuff that is integral to themselves. In my case, the one thing which I would most want to change is the seasonal affective disorder.

However, I think that I would not. It has taught me quite a lot. It has also made me much stronger, and much better at handling emotional distress and irrationality.

Although, it would be nice to not have to fix up my sentence structure so other people can read it! *shrug* Not sure if I'd change it, though, because I don't know what other effects on my brain changing that would have...

Comments

I think I'm in agreement with everyone else here.

[water-childe.livejournal.com]

I've been through some terrible experiences that at the time I would have chewed through my own left hand not to have to deal with. But in retrospect these were the experiences that taught me the most about life, about myself, and have helped me become a stronger more capable human being. All that cliche stuff about, "It builds character . . ." sound trite, but it's really the truth. I bought a album by one of my favorite bands today. It's an album by the Manic Street Preachers called "Know Your Enemy". Inside the liner notes their is a quote by Susan Sontag. It's oddly appropriate. "The only interesting answers are those which destroy the question."

Re: I think I'm in agreement with everyone else here.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

"The only interesting answers are those which destroy the question."

Y'know, I love this quote. It's getting added to my .quotes file. Thank you!