Busy Little Beaver

If your current self found yourself in the body of your 15-year-old self, what would you do?

Now that I am in my thirties there are so many things that I wish that I could do that I can`t. If only I had done so much more and learned so many more things when I was younger! If I could return to my fifteen-year-old self, I would want to use the opportunity to start learning lots of new things. If I could do that, when I returned to my current age, I would have so many more skills than I do now. For example, it is a bit embarrassing to admit this, but I can`t ride a bike. The reason for this is that when I was first learning how to ride a bike as a young kid, I used training wheels. Some of the boys in my neighborhood laughed at me and teased me about this and I was so embarrassed that I refused to ride again. I really wish my parents had forced me to learn to ride anyway as it is very inconvenient to not have this skill as an adult, especially living in Japan, but apparently, I was a very stubborn child. As an adult, I think it is very hard to learn to ride a bike as adults tend to worry more about the consequences of falling off one, and I think there is more of a chance of getting injured if you are an adult. In my case, I am now living in Japan so if I were to, for example, break my leg, while trying to learn to ride a bike, I have no family here to look after me. Also, I live on the fourth floor of a building with no elevator so I would not be able to get around easily, and I would not be able to work to support myself. Because of that, as much as I would like to be able to ride a bike, I don`t think it is worth the risk. However, if I could return to my fifteen-year-old self I would want to seize the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike. If I did so, by now I would be a very proficient bike rider.

I really regret not learning a musical instrument in my younger years. At the moment, I can only play the ukulele, albeit not very well, but what I would really love to be able to play is the guitar. I love the acoustic guitar and, while I am far from the world`s best singer, I still love to imagine myself singing my heart out while strumming the guitar and everyone listening and being like `wow`. I would love to be able to do this so much!!! If only I had started learning when I was younger, then I would be so good at it now! It would be great to be able to play the piano and so on as well. I wish I had learned more languages when I was younger too! Let`s just say, if I were to return to my 15-year-old self, I would be a busy little beaver!!!

Belinda

Vocabulary

tease (v) - to laugh at someone or say unkind things about them; to make fun of
apparently (adv.) - used to say you have read or been told something although you are not certain it is true
stubborn (adj.) - to be determined to do what one wants and refuse to do anything else
albeit (adv.) - used to introduce a comment which reduces the force or changes the significance of what was just said; though
busy little beaver (idiom) - a very busy or hardworking person