“Do not date that guy you will meet this day.” “Don’t buy that dress.” “Study harder.” These are just a few responses I received when I asked 30 random people what advice would they give themselves if they could go back in time.

“If I knew relationships weren’t supposed to be this way I would have gotten out sooner and saved myself a lot of heartache,” the woman said.

After gathering my responses on campus, I decided to broaden my horizons. So I went to Twitter, because it’s Twitter and where else should one go to get answers to deep, profound questions, right?

Although everyone differed in what advice they would give themselves, there was one thing all of my interviewees had in common — each person’s mistakes helped them learn and grow as a person.

Another Twitter user, @imAnthonyB, said he would advise himself never to be afraid to speak his mind.

I began to reflect on everything that had happened in my life and wondered if there was anything I would advise myself to do differently.

I decided that I would not change a thing. I think I learned everything I should have at the right time. Every mistake taught me what not to do again. I now know how to properly manage my money. I have learned how to spot the signs of toxic relationships and how to remove myself from them. Most of all, I am still growing into the person I want to be and every decision, good or bad, helps me realize that it is OK to mess up and it is not the end of the world.

More often than not, people tend to look back on the things they regret the most in their lives. Since no two experiences are the same, I began to wonder what advice people would give themselves if they had the chance.

Some people wanted to change very significant details that could alter their lives drastically — whether it was dating advice, choosing a different college or major, cutting ties with toxic friendships or financial advice.

The answers I received were extraordinary. Some people told me they would go back and only change frivolous details, like small financial purchases or switching out a beauty product that would cause a horrible acne break-out in 11th grade.

The response that stuck out the most to me was, “If I had a chance to go back and give myself some real serious advice, I would teach myself how to recognize abuse early on,” one woman said.

Twitter user @sonyaacole responded to my question with, “Stand up for yourself and don’t care what anyone else thinks or says about you because you know who you are.”

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer and are not representative of The Slate or its staff as a whole.

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