As many of you know, a few months back I recorded a video for the It Gets Better Project to help LGBT teens and young adults who are being bullied and struggling with suicide. As I remembered the anguish, pain and sense of aloneness I felt when dealing with this bullying in middle school, high school and summer camp, I thought about how useful it would have been to have had videos like these to support me.
And then I started thinking: if I knew then what I know now, would I want to go back to those times?
I'm a firm believer that the circumstances of your life—good and bad—shape you as a person. And much like in Back to the Future, the slightest correction could have serious ripple effects.
Am I totally happy with the course my life has taken? No, not completely. Hindsight is 20/20, after all, so there are certainly lots of changes I would make if I could. But that being said, if I had the opportunity to go back in time knowing what I know now, I don't think I would. However, what I wish I could do was simply tell the high school-aged or college-aged Larry that things really would get better, and that many of the things that were such a big deal then would turn out to be mere bumps in the road.
Of course, as they say in Coke Zero commercials, they haven't yet invented time machines (not even hot tub time machines), so this is just an interesting thought exercise. But it would be interesting to have a day back in high school, knowing what I know now...maybe I would have been president of the Drama Club after all!
How about you? If you could go back to a point in your life knowing what you know now, would you?
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