Its hard to say if the knuckleheaded things helped make me the way I was. I would TOTALLY go back and change ALL my mistakes, but at the same time I fear that a lot of those mistakes brought about really tough learned lessons that shaped who I am.

What if, by changing the past and fixing my mistake, I end up not learning the lesson and I turn into a doucebag, destined to just do that same mistake in the future?

No, because my life wouldn't be as it is now. I'm content with my present situation and by tampering with the past, my current situation would be different.

Of course I would.

I hate when people say
'I wouldn't have changed anything I did in the past even if I could, because this is what I am now, I would never have become this person'.
or
'I don't wish that any of these bad things never happened because I learned from it and I wouldn't be the person who I am today'.

And it's is so damn popular to say. I hear it all the time. It has become such a cliché.

I hate it because:

1. It's the same as saying that everything you do is always right.

2. It's narcissistic to believe so highly of oneself, to never regret any actions, and to believe that there is some kind of deterministic 'special unique self' destined by fate.

3. And it's so false and hypocritical to pretend that you are perfectly happy with your life, yourself and everything you did.

Imo, Slime, I'm pretty sure everyone who answered that regret loads of things they did but those events lead to others, and some people wouldn't want that to be changed. It's simply because the events that followed made them who they are now and lead to how their lives are right now.

Like I know my life isn't perfect, it'll never be and I have a long way to go to make it kind of like I want it to be. I have no idea where you get this from and how you came to those conclusions. No one said their lives were perfect but it's by making mistakes that you learn. None of that means that what you do is right, it just means those bad things form the later events and how you develop as a person.

By making mistakes, you learn so then you can better yourself, correct your mistakes. That's how people mature and grow. You can notice that people who don't make mistakes or learn from them don't grow much.

im glad people responded to this, Im interested to know people's thought's, personally I think that it's a very difficult dilema, it's easy to assume that changing mistakes you made in the past is always good for you, but then consider that by changing that mistake you never learn a lesson about life or never meet someone as a consequence, even a small thing could alter who you are today imo, so I wouldnt change them, in no way am I saying that my mistakes werent wrong or stupid, but they are a part of my personal history and shaped the person I am today.

While I wouldn't go as far as to fix every single misstep I've made and/or will make, there are a few very personal decisions I would redo, had I the chance - or I'd at least like to see the alternate outcomes of those decisions, like in A Christmas Carol, for example.

something definatly...

Just a couple of really bad ones. The rest I would leave alone.

I can understand that kind of thinking partly, but I don't believe anyone is so perfect that they haven't done stuff with far more negative consequences than positive ones, even if you account the 'mistakes are good experience' factor.

I could name dozens of mistakes that I wish were undone, maybe even hundreds. Yes, my life would in some ways have taken different paths, but I know that most of them would have been better - or at least I have good reason to assume that they would - and thus, if I could, I would change the mistakes I made.

Some of my worst mistakes I won't mention here because they're too private, but I'll list a few:

I wasted lots of opportunities by moving to other cities a couple of times, sometimes because I gave in to my girlfriends will. They just were bad decisions.

I missed career opportunities because I hesitated or was too arrogant. I would have a better job had I not made those mistakes.

I have gone into bad relationships that I should have stayed away from, knowing it beforehand both intellectually and instinctively.

I haven't always been careful enough when treating my patients. Some of them died because of my mistakes.

My dog died because I made a couple of mistakes when she got ill.

I have done and said lots of stupid stuff, which gave me bad rep with some people.

I've crashed my car in winter traffic a couple of times because of arrogance , the consequence of that is that I feel overly nervous on winter roads today.

Only if I had the Quantum Leap Accelerator. Apart from that, no. I'm happy with who I am. Even the painful mistakes.