I am sure like me, there have been times when you have wondered what difference might have been made to your life, if your younger self had been gifted with the experience and knowledge you have accumulated over the years.

I invited several friends from the writing community to share their thoughts on this subject which I am sure you will enjoy as much as I did.

Many thanks, Sally, for inviting me to share my thoughts on your new feature.

‘I wish I knew then what I know now’ by Terry Tyler

I was a teenager in the 1970s and in my twenties during the 1980s – a much easier time to be young, I think. No social media telling you what to think, no mobile phones following you everywhere, you could walk in and out of jobs at whim and find a cheap flat by answering a newspaper ad. I consider myself so lucky to have been born when I was, and have known that time. How would I advise the eighteen-year-old me to make the most of such good fortune, if I could go back in time to 1977?

The Generation Gap:

Whatever issues you’re having, however vast the chasm between your lifestyle and that of your parents, find some common ground. The older you get the more you will appreciate them, but never more than when they are gone. Talk to them. Ask them about their lives. When they give you advice, at least consider it. Their youth may have been very different from yours, but human nature is a constant.

My parents died in 2017 and 2019; I still have so many questions that will remain forever unanswered – and I would give a great deal to have one more day with them.

The Sparrow’s Flight:

Edited quote from St Bede, in the 7th Century:

‘The present life of man upon earth – like the swift flight of a sparrow through the mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another – so this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all.’

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