Things you've turned down that might have changed your life.

[diy_fun_uk]

I'm hoping this can be a serious or at the very least semi-serious thread.

Here's my story, well, one of them. Years back I had an interview at Edinburgh Uni. They were working on a joint project with an organisation in New York related to a super computer. If I remember correctly, significant parts of the computer had been developed/built in Scotland and were to be shipped to New York to be fitted into the components they were working on across the pond. It was made clear to me my role, if successful in the interview process, would be relatively low level e.g. testing components post transit, installing then retesting, that sort of thing. The role involved working in New York for 6 months, however they said this might be extended and other opportunities might arise from it.

I never thought I'd get offered the role. However I did.

I turned it down. Why? Too much of a home bird I suppose.

When looking back on my life so far and the decisions I've taken, I sometimes wonder how my life would have panned out if I'd said yes to that job offer. Ultimately though, I don't regret it.

So, is there anything you've turned down in years gone by, whether a career/job opportunity or something else? If yes, what was the thing and do you have any regrets about making the decision?

 

[Highway Man]

Every turn and decision that you make sort of shapes and changes your life, looking back on what is perceived as an opportunity may well have been a bad decision if taken or acted on and changed your life for the worse rather than for the better. It is because we never took that "opportunity' that we think "what if" as it is an unknown. I don't have regretts over lots of missed opportunitys that I have had in life, rather I look at what I am doing right now and look at how I can shape my future from here on. I am a massive believer in Tomorrow can be a better day than today rather than having regrets from the past.

 

[charliegolf]

As a retired, 'career educator', I reflect on the opportunities that might have been open to me had I not wasted my secondary education. I just didn't/wasn't willing to do the work. I still regret it, and have used the story to try and encourage others as what not to do.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Every turn and decision that you make sort of shapes and changes your life, looking back on what is perceived as an opportunity may well have been a bad decision if taken or acted on and changed your life for the worse rather than for the better. It is because we never took that "opportunity' that we think "what if" as it is an unknown. I don't have regretts over lots of missed opportunitys that I have had in life, rather I look at what I am doing right now and look at how I can shape my future from here on. I am a massive believer in Tomorrow can be a better day than today rather than having regrets from the past.

Valid points however it kind of closes my thread off

Replies don't need to be things folk regret or things that are deep and meaningful, just things turned down (for whatever reason) that might have taken life in a different path.

 

[Highway Man]

Valid points however it kind of closes my thread off

Replies don't need to be things folk regret or things that are deep and meaningful, just things turned down (for whatever reason) that might have taken life in a different path.

No that is only my personal view, I have had lots of opportunities in the past, I was offered positions as a proffesional dancer and a male model in particular which could have easily taken me down another path. Of course it is human nature to wonder "what if" but I just look forward.

 

[blup]

I never quite believe people who say I wouldn’t change a thing, every one would do some things differently. It’s knowing that you can’t change the past only learn from that is important to how you live and rest of your life.

 

[motorbiking]

Due to poor career advice at school I nearly became a chef. Unfortunately, teachers often have a very narrow view of how the world works. They quickly decide who will “succeed” and who will “fail”.
Fortunately, I spoke to a college lecturer, by chance at an open day and he set me straight.

 

[motorbiking]

I never quite believe people who say I wouldn’t change a thing, every one would do some things differently. It’s knowing that you can’t change the past only learn from that is important to how you live and rest of your life.

With hindsight getting married was a mistake, neither of us were bothered about it at the time, but I had old fashioned views about having kids out of wedlock. But if I changed that, I wonder what else would have changed.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Due to poor career advice at school I nearly became a chef. Unfortunately, teachers often have a very narrow view of how the world works. They quickly decide who will “succeed” and who will “fail”.
Fortunately, I spoke to a college lecturer, by chance at an open day and he set me straight.

I hope careers advice has come on leaps and bounds from decades past.

Must admit I thought more might partake in this light-hearted non heavy/political thread.

 

[johnny2007]

I worked in a small factory making resin moulds for tech companies when tech companies were operating from sheds.
One of the owners wanted out and they offered me to take over his 25% share.
I declined.
This company now is making lots of money.
Regrets?
Don't know.
I still don't like the idea of being locked in a closed environment 40-50 hours/week.

 

[mikehammer69]

Worked for a university in US with another person from home

They offered one permanent position and the opportunity of further study with same

I decided my friend would benefit more from the position and told him to take the job

 

[blup]

With hindsight getting married was a mistake, neither of us were bothered about it at the time, but I had old fashioned views about having kids out of wedlock. But if I changed that, I wonder what else would have changed.

Your kids would have been a few months older.

 

[Doug99]

This is a posting I made in 2020, which tells a story where fate played a big part in my life.

In 1941 a Royal Marine boy bugler had just passed his basic training with his best mate when they were both approached by their instructor that a battleship was about to sail from Portsmouth and the Admiral needed another bugler. The excited youngsters couldn't decide so the instructor tossed a coin. Our young bugler called wrong and the following morning he waved off his best mate as he sailed away on HMS Hood..........never to return.
34 years later in 1975 I completed my own basic mechanic training when a ship was seeking a young mechanic in Plymouth. Again a coin was tossed and again I called wrong, ending up in a shore job in Portsmouth.
3 years later I met my wife who in fact was the daughter of the boy bugler who watched his best mate sail on the Hood. Still happily married after 47yrs.
I always wonder how our lives would have panned out if the calls were made differently.
True dit.

 

[motorbiking]

Wow - two flips of the coin.

 

[Mottie]

Not me but my dad. When we had a careers master at school, we had to see them with our parents to discuss what we wanted to do when we left school. I was really into cars so when he asked me what I wanted to do, I told him I wanted to be a motor mechanic and he said he would get in touch with a few tyre shops. At this point my dad butted in "You're not listening mate, He wants to be a mechanic. He ain’t changing tyres in a f'cking tyre shop, it’s an apprenticeship or nothing". This was in the days when an apprenticeship meant something. Because of that, the careers master set me up with a couple of interviews for apprenticeships and I was accepted by a Vauxhall main dealer - I got one of 2 places out of 57 applicants. From that apprenticeship I was never out of work, went to different main dealers, got a job abroad, bought a house with a workshop and worked for myself, got into alarms and car phones, got a job teaching, ran a charity training centre for mechanics, built that up to a fully functioning garage and MOT station, left there and started my own training company, eventually retired and sold the workshop. I often wonder what would have happened had my dad not spoken up and I’d become a tyre fitter. Who knows.