February 28, 2025/Midnight
Erie, PA— Gannon University is home to over 2,000 students at any given time of year. Within this student body, a variety of different people exist. We are united through our pursuit of education at Gannon University. However, our differences may lie in our ages, career choices, races, faiths, or a plethora of other things. In every aspect that we are different, there is one where we are similar. In Roundtable, we explore the similarities and differences in the thoughts and opinions of Gannon students.
This week three students were asked what advice they would give their younger selves if they could go back in time. This question has recently been popularized on social media apps like TikTok, through different trends that encourage the viewer to reflect on their life. But it’s also been a hypothetical that people have been pondering for years.
Jewel Maria, a first-year graduate student studying strategic communication says that she wishes her younger self would have thought more before acting. “I think emotionally,” Maria said, “I don’t know how to handle problems.”
Andrew Lupejkis, a senior cybersecurity major, says that he would tell his younger self, “In general, in the next four years, you will be a much more interesting person due to the experiences you have, just through going to college but also through organizations and through the people that you meet.”
He adds, “Where you’re at now, you might think that you know a lot about yourself, and you’ll figure out a lot more through the people that you meet and the experiences that you have.”
Eric Bruno, a sophomore writing major says, “I would tell myself to stay clean. I have a mental illness, and drugs kind of perpetuated it.”
He goes on, “I’m clean now, and I’m happier than when I was using.”
Many people have wondered, given the chance to go back in time, what they would tell their younger self. Today reports on a study done by Robin Kowalski, who asked this same question and got a variety of responses. One response said they would tell their younger self to lighten up and enjoy life without focusing on the stress of school constantly. Another responder similarly said to stop and smell the roses.
Respondents to Kowalski’s study typically gave advice that correlated to major events that happened in their teenage or early adult years. Kowalski also found that many people followed their own advice and just wished they had begun to do so earlier in life.
If you could go back in time, what would you tell yourself? Would you change something about your life, or are you content with the way your life has so far played out?
