35 Items on the "Regret List" That No One Can Escape | The Confession Room of the Rising Generation
This is the "Confession Room for the Youngsters" column. There's no priest here, but a quiet "confession seat" is reserved for you.
We're collecting the heartfelt words of young people, encouraging them to reveal their innermost longings. Sincere expression itself is full of power.
This is the 3rd issue of the "Confession Room for the Youngsters". Let's talk about the regrets of our school days together.
Everyone's school days are an irrecoverable youth. This summer, I want to talk to you all about the regrets of our school years.
Youth was our greatest asset back then. But precisely because we were too young, youth was inevitably intertwined with regrets: unspoken confessions of love, losing touch with old friends, failing to choose the major we liked in college, not starting internships earlier before graduation... These lingering regrets still hold some people back even after decades.
We always tend to glorify the path we didn't take. Every time we look back, we can't help but sigh, "If only I had done XXX back then."
During this year's graduation season, the "Institute for the Youngsters" launched a collection campaign: If you could travel back to your school days and face your younger self, what would you like to say to him/her?
We received sincere messages from over a hundred friends. Their stories, regrets, encouragements, or advices are like letters across time and space, sent back to the original scene from different life coordinates.
01
Damn it, break up earlier and get rid of it.
@car
Graduated 1 year ago
To myself in the second year of junior high school in 2020
02
Find a reliable guy and have a good relationship!
@car
Graduated 1 year ago
To myself in the second year of junior high school in 2020
03
Don't break up. It's really hard to find a partner after leaving school.
@Dried fish
Graduated 8 years ago
To myself in the fourth year of college in 2017
04
Don't miss that boy after the college entrance examination. In the future, a fortune - teller will tell you that your crush at 16 is the right person for you in this lifetime.
@I like broad backs like a bear's
Graduated 1 year ago
To myself in the third year of high school in 2018
05
I know you were very happy to receive his message that night. I want to tell you that you will have a few months of really wonderful days. You'll be together, you'll quarrel, you'll break up, and after half a year, your paths will cross again. You'll get to know each other again and fall in love, but you'll still break up and lose contact. But even now, at this moment when you're typing these words, you haven't completely let it go.
Image source: "Later We"
So now I can't give you good advice either. Should you throw yourself into this relationship regardless of whether it's a good or bad one, or should I advise you like the little person in the "Three - Body" world advised Ye Wenjie: Don't answer, don't answer! I don't know.
I'm not just confused when I look back. I was confused at that moment when things were happening. Maybe I also need to listen to the insights of my more mature and wiser future self. The ending is a bit regrettable. You never met each other from beginning to end. But don't regret it, dear. Someone once firmly chose you, said you were the best, and always affirmed and encouraged you. That's enough for you to be grateful.
@Anonymous
Graduated 2 years ago
To myself in the first year of college in 2023
06
Get closer to the girl in front of you. Ten years later, you two will have a happy family.
@Mate tea
Graduated 10 years ago
To myself in the third year of high school in 2014
07
Stop being a coward. Be brave and confess your love to her. Ask her if she wants to be with you. The ending might be different from what it is now.
A girl who could play the guzheng transferred to your class in the first semester of the second year of high school. She was one of the few opposite - sex classmates you had common topics with. As you talked more, you started inviting her to walk home together after school, and your relationship got closer. Before the New Year's Day holiday, you gave her a New Year's card, and the next day she gave you one in return. It was obvious that she had put a lot of thought into it. You seemed to have fallen for her. After that, you even went hiking and watched movies together. You were completely smitten. But you were too timid to confess your feelings. After graduation, you went to different cities and your contact gradually decreased until you lost touch.
@Capybara
Graduated 5 years ago
To myself in the third year of high school in 2016
08
It's been several years since high school graduation, and you still can't forget that boy. So you added him on WeChat at the class reunion. But gradually, you found that he was different from what you imagined. Your love for him had added a filter. What you couldn't forget was the him in your fantasy. Later, you confessed your love to him and got together with him. Although you knew very well that you weren't suitable for each other, it was more like giving an explanation to your past self. As expected, you broke up after just a few months, and you deleted him again.
Image source: "All at Dawn"
If I could go back to when I was 20, I'd tell myself not to go to the class reunion, not to add him as a friend. Just let him stay in my fantasy, along with the shy memories of that youthful crush.
@Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants broke up
Currently in the second year of postgraduate study
To myself in the second year of college
09
Be more thick - skinned, whether it's facing opportunities or love.
@Xiaojuan Li
Graduated 5 years ago
To myself in the first year of college in 2012
01
Sell your house and go all - in on Bitcoin or gold.
@Just call me Red Scarf
Graduated 7 years ago
To myself in the fourth year of college in 2017
02
Take out loans and buy a few more houses.
@Ocean
Graduated 13 years ago
To myself in the third year of college in 2011
03
Stop playing that stupid game. Make money, buddy. Take on jobs on Longkong fiercely. Otherwise, after you become a civil servant, you'll be so poor that you can't even afford to eat. Don't you like the SU7? Don't you like the A5? Make money and you'll have everything!
@Eat all kinds of hot pots
Graduated 5 years ago
To myself in the first year of college in 2016
04
Look at things from a developmental perspective. If you had chosen an internship in the short - video field back then, things might be different now. For an undergraduate intern who hasn't graduated yet (especially an ordinary student from an ordinary school), the size of the company actually isn't that important. The work content should be the first thing to consider because it might determine your future career direction.
@What to eat today
Graduated 6 years ago
To myself in the fourth year of college in 2018
05
Don't be swayed by others. You must go for an internship during the gap year before postgraduate study!!! Explore what you like, be brave enough to try, and cherish every opportunity to make mistakes! You must do what you think is right. Don't be afraid to say you're not good enough here or there, and don't be afraid of failure. There's no perfect and correct choice. You have to strive forward on the path you've chosen and make it the right one! As long as it's what I love, I'll never regret it even if I face death a hundred times.
@Red fish blossoms sweetly
Graduated 2 years ago
To myself in the fourth year of college in 2023
06
After graduation, go straight to find a job. Don't take the postgraduate entrance examination. Save yourself the pain of preparing for the exam and the pressure of postgraduate study. Just focus on working and making money. Before starting postgraduate study, I hardly made any regrettable life decisions. The only one was choosing to pursue a postgraduate degree.
@Big fish
Currently in the second year of postgraduate study
To myself in the fourth year of college in 2023
07
If you could have socialized earlier, or been more willing to understand and adapt to the rules of society, and gone for psychological counseling earlier, you might have been more successful in a social sense. But it doesn't matter if you didn't. Because in the future, you'll still like your life and state.
Image source: "No More F**ks Given"
The results are brought about by choices, and choices are deeply influenced by feelings and values. Even if you had socialized earlier, you would still have retained some of your stubbornness and perseverance.
@Cai Tou
Graduated 14 years ago
To myself in the first year of college in 2003
01
Stop sleeping in class. Get up and study with all your might. Time is an absolute luxury. Once it passes, it can never be redeemed. People better than you are still working harder than you.
@Xiao An
Graduated 17 years ago
To myself in the first year of high school in 2002
02
Taking the postgraduate entrance examination is just one way to expand your knowledge boundary. It can't be an excuse to avoid entering society. Getting into a prestigious school won't give you the so - called halo. What really matters is who you want to be and what kind of life you want to choose. Although it may take many years to figure this out, finding the answer to this question can make you be yourself, rather than living up to others' expectations.
@N
Graduated 9 years ago
To myself in the third year of college in 2015
03
Born in a province with a highly competitive college entrance examination, you've experienced the cruelty of the exam - oriented education. Your greatest wish was to study outside the province, but you ruined it all by yourself. After the college entrance examination results came out, a flood of advice poured in. Under everyone's persuasion, you easily wavered. In the end, you gave up the chance to get into a 211 university outside the province and went to a local university, choosing the major you least liked but with a fallback option.
Image source: "My Own Swordsman"
Every time I think about it, I wish I could go back and wake you up. I hate my own indecision back then. I've always wanted freedom, but I trapped myself in this small place with my own hands. If I could do it all over again, you must go against all the advice and go to Beijing to study at university.
@DDD
Graduated 6 years ago
To myself in the third year of high school in 2015
04
Study your professional knowledge well and learn more knowledge