A list of things that we regret not doing in our 20s

鄧美娟

Life is filled with regrets. Ask anyone around you whattheir regrets are and they usually have no difficulty coming upwith many items on their "regret list". And for some reasonour twenties are ripe for a field of regrets.

Perhaps it' s because as we get older we look back onthat period of adulthood as the height of freedom andautonomy. As move into middle age， we look back and wishthat we had made better choices and taken moreopportunities. Here ' s a list of things that we regret not doingin our 20s.

人生總是充滿遺憾。問問你周圍的人他們有沒有遺憾的事情，他們會輕而易舉的列出一大堆“遺憾清單”。由于某些原因，20多歲是最容易犯錯的年紀(jì)。

也許是因?yàn)殡S著年齡的增長，當(dāng)我們再次回顧那段時光，會發(fā)現(xiàn)那是一段充滿自由和獨(dú)立的時光。隨著我們步入中年，我們經(jīng)常希望：要是我們能再有更多選擇的機(jī)會多好??！以下就列舉了一些如果我們在20來歲沒有做就會讓我們后悔的事情：1. Travelling more

I regret not travelling more. and so does nearlyeveryone that I have asked. Before kids， and mortgages andmarriages， when our commitments and expenses werelower. the opportunities for travel were much greater. butfor some reason many of us thought we ' d always have timefor travel later.

We dreamed of visiting the pyramids of Egypt， surfingoff the Hawaiian coast. dining at a Parisian cafe， drinkingespresso in Rome， trekking through the rainforest. and somuch more. Sadly， many of us never made these journeysand the opportunity passed us by.

2. Investing early

How many times have we kicked ourselves for notstarting our 40IKs. in our twenties， for not putting our excesscash in long term investments. for not investing in our futureearly. No matter how much we try， we can never get backthe head start that we missed. Playing catch up in our 40' sand 50 ' s is very difficult.

3. Being more responsible with spending

In order to invest in our retirement or save for that downpayment， we would have needed to make wiser financialspending choices. Things like buying or holding on to thatperfectly reliable used car. instead of splurging on the newmodel...because we could， eating out less and saving for ahouse instead， buying fewer shoes and purses and clothesand paying off student loans sooner. So many savingopportunities lost， money spent on tangible things， insteadof on the future.

4. Better planning

I regret not focusing more on where l wanted to go inlife. what I wanted to do. who I wanted to be and what itwould take to get there. With some more planning in ourtwenties. we' d be further ahead in our 40s and perhaps a bithappier as well.1.多旅行

我后悔沒有到更多的地方去旅行，而且?guī)缀跷覇栠^的每個人都會這樣說。在有孩子之前、在抵押貸款和結(jié)婚之前，在我們需要承擔(dān)的責(zé)任和花銷較少時，正是旅游的大好機(jī)，但是由于種種原因，我們總覺得我們以后會有更多的時間去旅行。

我們夢想過去埃及看金字塔，在夏威夷海邊沖浪，在巴黎的咖啡館共進(jìn)晚餐，在羅馬品嘗香濃的咖啡，徒步穿越熱帶雨林等等諸如此類的計劃?？杀氖?，大部分人都沒有付諸行動，只是看著機(jī)會白白溜走。 2.早投資 多少次回想我們都恨不得踢自己一腳：為什么不在20來歲就開始40IK（美國的一種養(yǎng)老金制度）計劃，為什么沒有將多余的現(xiàn)金用于長期投資，為什么沒有早早的為我們未來投資。不管我們再怎么努力，錯過的時光都不會重來了。等到我們四五十歲的時候再奮起直追已為時已晚了。

3.更合理地安排支出

為了退休后的投資或房子的首付，我們需要更合理的理財。比如說買一輛不錯的二手車，而不是把錢浪費(fèi)在新款車型上……我們也可以減少外出就餐，攢錢買房子，少買點(diǎn)鞋子和衣服，提前還清助學(xué)貸款。這么多的攢錢機(jī)會都錯過了，我們用錢換來了很多實(shí)實(shí)在在的物品，卻沒有更多關(guān)注我們的未來。

4.更好地規(guī)劃人生

我后悔我沒有仔細(xì)思考我的人生道路，我想要做的事情，我想成為一個什么樣的人以及如何才能實(shí)現(xiàn)。如果在20多歲的時候我們能更好地規(guī)劃人生，我們在40多歲的時候就會更上一層樓，也許還會感覺到更幸福。

5. Seizing more experiences

I wish I had leamed to ski and paint， speak Italian anddo the Tango. I regret not living somewhere else beforesettling down. Others have said they regret not pursuing theirhobbies or learning to sky dive or mountain climb. l prefer tostay on the ground. but I do regret not leaming more. nottrying new things that are hard to fit into the life of a fortysomething working wife and mother.

6. Living a more active lifestyle

The bodies of youth are wasted on the young_ l wish Ihad run a marathon before my knees ached. that I had bikedmore. hiked more. and took spinning classes when my legswere stronger. I regret not joining a softball team orvolleyball league. We don' t often realize that we havesquandered our physical abilities until things start aching andcreaking.

7. Making more friends

I regret not reaching out more， putting more effort intocreating a tribe of support that would carry me through moredifficult times. We socialize sure， but many of us don' t putenough importance on building deep and lasting friendships.Some do， many don' t and wish they had.

8. Pursuing a more meaningful career

Many of us wish we had taken more career risks， optedfor meaning over money ， pursued the career path we wantedinstead of what we were expected to do or simply followingthe path that was laid out before us. How much better to haveexplored our options and pursued meaningful work in ourt，^renties than to have spent 20 years doing something we don ' t love.

Life is good; don' t misunderstand. Few of us walkaround every day pining for our youth， at least I hope not，but we do occasionally look back with a wistful sigh and wishthat we planned more， lived more. and stretched ourselvesmore when we had the freedom and energy to do so.

5.更多的人生體驗(yàn)

我多希望我以前學(xué)會了滑雪、畫畫，會說意大利語，會跳探戈;我后悔在安定下來之前沒有在別的地方生活過。很多人也都和我一樣后悔沒有持之以恒地培養(yǎng)自己的愛好，沒有學(xué)跳傘，沒有去爬山。我確實(shí)更喜歡務(wù)實(shí)，但也很后悔沒有去學(xué)更多的東西，沒有嘗試新事物，這些事物已經(jīng)無法再融入一個40歲的全職妻子加母親的生活中了。

6.更積極向上的生活方式

年輕的時候，我們肆意地?fù)]霍著我們的青春活力……我多想在我膝關(guān)節(jié)疼痛之前能跑場馬拉松，多騎騎自行車、多走走看看，在腿腳強(qiáng)健的時候多騎騎動感單車。我后悔沒有參加壘球社團(tuán)或排球聯(lián)盟?？偸堑鹊襟w力透支病痛來襲，我們才意識到年輕時鍛煉的可貴。

7.交更多的朋友

我后悔沒有更多的伸出手去，沒有更努力去結(jié)交那么一伙兒可以陪我度過更多艱難時光的朋友。我們確實(shí)也有交際，但是大多數(shù)人并沒有把重心放在建立更深更持久的友情上面。一些人做到了，但是還有很多人卻沒有，他們希望當(dāng)初曾為友情努力過。

8.追求一份更有意義的職業(yè)

大部分人都是遵循別人的期待去工作或者按照別人鋪好的路去走，而不愿冒更多的職業(yè)風(fēng)險和遵循我們的內(nèi)心去工作掙錢。比起20多年一直從事自己不喜歡的工作，能在20多歲時自己選擇并去追求一份更有意義的工作是多么的好??！

毋庸置疑，生活是美好的。很少有人每天四處走走緬懷我們的青春，但是我們確實(shí)會偶爾若有所思地邊嘆氣邊回憶：多么希望當(dāng)我們身心自由和精力旺盛的時候，能有更多的計劃、更多的活法去擴(kuò)展自己。