If I could start over

I have my share of regrets. Like a lot of people, I have wondered about what I would do differently if I could start over again based on what I know now. I have a feeling that my thoughts are different from most.

If I could go back in time, I would be more rebellious. When I was in school, I knew my needs weren't being met. I should have rebelled against the abundant wrongdoing of my teachers. As I have stated in the past, the best way to rebel against teachers is to learn. This would mean that I could better myself as an individual while exposing my teachers as unnecessary to the educational process.

This form of rebellion would undoubtedly harm my grades. I wouldn't want to punish myself by spending more years in the system. Instead, I would drop out of school. As a result, I would never accept a stupid piece of paper that inaccurately portrays me as nothing more than a schooling-certified mindless drone.

One thing that might surprise people is that I think I would run for the school board as soon as I was eligible. If I could immediately make an impact on education, that would have been worth it. Since I'm not a social creature, I would be at a disadvantage. There is a part of me that hopes that seeing the problems better than others could help me overcome my inability to sell myself to voters and the funding the union would be certain to give my opponent.

Even losing an election could have value. It's not easy to start making an impact on education when you don't have any kids in the system and haven't had any personal involvement in decades. This is also why I would need to look for ways to remain connected to the schools in some form. Even losing an election, it would probably be best to actively participate in school board meetings.

I have been open that I allowed society to bully me out of educational pursuits. This is obviously something else I would like to change. I should have kept learning regardless of how many times I was told, "Don't learn."

I should mention that not all changes I want to make are about education. There are other things that I would like to do differently. I believe in evolving as an individual, but I have lived my life surrounded by people who make a big deal out of change. This kind of attention has kept me from pursuing the kind of change I need in life. If I embraced change as part of my lifestyle early on, change wouldn't be as big of a deal. This could make change easier for me.

I would also want to deal with the physical side of things. I'm not in the best shape. I should be living a more physically active lifestyle. Like my issues with change, this would be easier if I established physical activity as part of my lifestyle when I was younger.

I should point out that there are a lot of unknowns about how my life would be different if I could do everything all over again. My developmental path would be so different that I can't possibly know the specifics of what I would be capable of. This could drastically alter my trajectory. What I will say is that this would almost certainly lead to a better life than I have today.