Tell Me Something Tuesday: If You Could Go Back and Change One Thing About Your Life, What Would It Be?

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters throw in for good measure). After Heidi stopped blogging (apparently for good), five of us took over as hosts while providing new questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...

IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

It's no secret that I've made a number of bad choices in my life...or more like, non-choices - letting myself be lulled by the waves and waiting to see if they would transport me to a better place, because I didn't know how (and where) to swim. One of the worst (rare) decisions I've ever made was knock on the local radio stations' doors (two of them - the first one shut up shop after a few months, the second left me unemployed after 20 years). Once I entered those doors, my life freeze-framed. When I realised that there wasn't enough money and recognition to be had, ever (I said recognition, not fame - like from my boss, for instance 😬), I was already too old, too tired and too unskilled in everything else to look for a different job. So I didn't leave the place...until the place left me.

But as bitter as I am about my radio stunt, my very first/biggest mistake predated it - even, for all purposes, was responsible for my trading a hobby for a (dead-end) job - and that's the one thing I really, really wish I could go back and undo (where are you Doctor? 😭): my choice of schools.

Since I used to hate scientific disciplines, I enrolled into Classical High School (where the main subjects were Greek and Latin). The problem is, even back then, I didn't intend to do anything in life that would require for me to specialise in dead languages. As usual, I only knew what I DIDN'T WANT to do. Teen me dreamed of doing something "creative" (possibly something language-related) and hated the idea of office jobs and the like with a passion - to me they equated death of the soul, no less. (I used to abstractly hate computers too...go figure). Then I chose the Foreign Languages and Literatures faculty because...duh, I loved English, and it came easily to me. Also, I knew it was likely to open a lot of doors...except I didn't have a clue what doors I ACTUALLY wanted to open (I toyed with the idea of becoming a book translator for a while, but I didn't know how to make it happen - keep in mind we were still a few years away from the internet-for-everyone era...). So, TL;DR: I've never studied anything that would be expendable in the job market (except English, but that alone didn't suffice, and then again, I've become more proficient in it thanks to books and online interactions than I had via five years of academic courses...).

So, to answer this week's question: knowing what I know now, when enrolling in high school, I would choose a technical institute - which would probably make me miserable for five years, but it's not like the school I chose didn't, and at least a technical education would be more useful. Then I would take advantage of the emergent computer science courses and become one of the first computer-literate people in my corner of the woods. And then I would actually aim for one of those office jobs I used to hate, because now I know that sometimes the best way to be creative is by way of a hobby. So I would stay away from radio stations and start blogging ten years in advance instead and become an internet sensation 😂 (joking about the last part LOL) and carve my creative outlet in that niche. Where's a TARDIS when you need to have a talk with past you about her future mistakes.

Well, that's it for now. Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to participate in the meme on a regular or semi-regular basis, and get emailed the prompt list? Just head over here and fill in Jen's form! (Of course, you can jump in anytime you like - you are under no obligation to actually do all the posts, or even most of them, just because you signed up, and you can remove yourself from the list at any time). And if you're interested in participating in a more casual manner, or only in commenting, here is the TMST prompt list for the month of May:

• May 2nd: Have you looked at Twitter alternatives after it changed hands? Are you using any? (a question I submitted)
• May 9th: Do you prefer to read a series as the books come out? Or do you prefer to wait until the series is finished?
• May 16th: Which book/series would make a great movie/tv series?
• May 23rd: Which tropes do you enjoy the most?
• May 30th: Which books are you looking forward to reading this Summer? (June-August)

I'll be back for the meme on May 2nd, and I'm very much looking forward to your answers, because I'd like to be able to leave Twitter behind...though I guess it's wistful thinking for now, given that all the authors and publishers are on there...

Now tell me something...is there a thing about your past that you would like to be able to change?