I wasted 5 years of my life

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I realize I wasted the past 5 years of my , since I graduated high school too late (19.5), and didn't do much of anything besides work minimum wage jobs till now. I only have 1k of savings, and a house (no big deal it's foreclosure; it's worth 10k). I drop a huge load of money on family... so I won't go there lol (it's like 6k)

I wish I drop out of high school, got a GED instead of a worthless high school diploma (there's no point in getting one when it doesn't help with jobs.... seriously.. ALTHOUGH IT DOES HELP IF YOU GET INTO A GOOD SCHOOL but you need a 3.5 gpa at least), and went into the military at 17 (to get the GI , and savings). I am regretting things now, especially how I handle the past 2 years as well....

And now I am going into the military (which is the smartest move I could do now, hands down), I'm 21 turning 22 by January, and I feel like I wasted so much time.... and I feel like crap. Although even though I wasted so much time, I don't think I will regret my future choices, since I feel very confident in them.

I kind of wish I could turn off that internal brain in head saying, "you wasted so much time, you could of, should of, would of"

Dude I am 36 and I wasted a lot of time. The only solution is to move forward. And try to age slower.

Whatever you do or think, you will not get any of that time back.

Two options:

You can waste more of your future time thinking about your wasted past time.

- OR -

Remember that you are changing your life and learn a lesson from it.

The only time you really wasted, is the time you wasted with being unhappy. YOU are the one, that should be important for you, and not society and economy. According to society, my partner wasted 6 years by studying law, and then failing at a major test, and so being forced to end his studyings. Why are this years wasted according to society? "Because he could have earned money..." s**t, and instead of earning money we lived happily together during that time. Wow...that was really a waste. Additionally I wasted around a year in WoW. Why was that a waste? Because in that time I could as well have done a second job, to earn more money, money, money... Instead I was uselessly happy doing I like, what a waste.

Dont let others tell you depending on your own oppinions if you are wasting your time or not. Because its your oppinions to that, that matters. So as long as you are able to live on your own, its up to you to spend your time in the most meaning way, and that means in a way that makes you happy.

Everything in your life that has happened up to this point has made you who you are now. IMO that is not wasting time, that is growing and learning.

At 34, I could tell you how much time I have "wasted" and all of the bad choices I have made. But, when I look at it rationally,if I had not "wasted" that time and made those choices, I would not be who I am now and have the knowledge I have at this moment. I am a hands on learner, which means I have to experience things to understand them. Ruminating on the past only causes grief in the present. Reflect on the mistakes, looked at the lessons learned, and apply what you have learned from past experiences to the present.

Sometimes we have to take the long way around to learn a few things, it's not wasting time.


Plus, no one has a crystal ball that allows them to gaze into the future.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at the end of High School. My focus at the time was surfing and some other sports and doing the ususal minor jobs on the side. It wasn't productive in the typical sense, nor contribute to a career in any way. But it did get me out and about, my initial travel experiences and give me time to mature. I eventually decided to go back to my original desire (since childhood) and enter military (Air Force). I was 21 soon to be 22 and wanted to learn a profession, get training, schooling, travel, and get out of the hometown. I didn't mind the idea of having to put up with a lot of potenial serious crap to get it. Honestly, one of the aspects of attraction in the military is its not a typical job and can be pretty interesting in an adrenaline rush sort of way, even just the training. Some people like that aspect. It can also be drop dead boring and repetitive or very cerebral. It all depends on what job you go into (or cross train into later). Its hard to pick the right job as a recruit, because you just don't know what it all means and what really does what. So the initial phase is another learning curve. But you are at least moving. The military life isn't for everyone. Its something you have to find out for yourself. But most all do get by and at least finish their first hitch. Then you decide if you like it enough to stay or use it as a stepping stone, with whatever vet benefits they offer to the next stepping stone. There are quite a few hidden aspies in the service, and some do very well. You have to come up with some coping skills and be able to do whatever, whenever. But in your own time you can be more yourself and persue your interests. The very plain and well defined set of rules helps, as there is often very little to decide or second guess.

Anyway, I don't regret the 4 years I wasted before getting started. I got to try and so various things, and learned a lot about what I didn't want to do with the rest of my life. A learning experience, and we are all on different learning curves.

You're doing much better than me. I have no savings and live in a rented apartment. I have no pension, no insurance and can hardly pay my bills. I work for more than minimum wage, but it's term-time only, so I spend 2 months of the year effectively unemployed (but not allowed to claim dole.)

I don't even have a partner anymore and I'm very overweight due to medication given to me for mental health problems. My life is a bit of a mess.

You think you wasted your life, I'm 25 and I'm done nothing. With the phony job I've had for the last four years, minimum wage would be a massive improvement for me. I shouldn't have dropped out of collage. I may go back once I figure out what to do or I may just do menial labour, which would still be a massive improvement over my current, virtually non-existent job, which I'm afraid to even put on my resume because it's so ridiculous.

I wasted most of my life as well. apparently it is a common thing among people such as myself. hindsight being 20/20 [except for me it is more like 20/200] I can see that just about every decision I ever made was faulty and if only I had done the exact opposite thing i'd be in a totally better place now, except for one recent decision which is the only correct decision I ever made in my whole life.

Thanks.

Everyone's journey in life is different I suppose. I guess I'll just have to live 5 years longer.

I'm sure many on this site wish they could have made different choices in their life, I know I do.
Regrets are not beneficial, learning from bad decisions is. You could just try and squeeze an extra 5 years worth of good stuff into the rest of your life. Balance restored. Best wishes. NW.