conversations with your younger self

[cellio]

I swiped this idea from khaosworks, who introduced it here.

Take your life as it is now.

Imagine yourself, oh, some 15-18 years ago, if you're old enough to remember that far back.

What would the you of that time think if you could go back and talk about what you're doing now? Would your younger self believe you? Be happy? Or want to avert this future?

Are you where you thought you were going to be?

This isn't the old "Give your younger self advice" chestnut. It's a variation - you're telling yourself that this is the future to come... what would be your younger self's reaction?

Comments

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

Well, 15-18 years ago I was 5-8 years old, still young enough to be disappointed that my dad worked in an office instead of having a cool job like being a magician (like the father of one of the other kids in choir). So to make this more interesting I'm going to set the time machine a mere 10 years back, to when I was 13 and just about to start high school.

I don't think a lot of the mundane particulars my life would come as any shock. Going to school back East, working in software, living in a city... I think my stated goal at the time was to be a lawyer (I saw myself as more of a humanities type then), but the broader goals have remained pretty constant. I might be disappointed at the trouble I've had getting "launched" career-wise, or maybe it wouldn't surprise me at all given how depressed I was then. I would definitely be surprised that I ended up being reasonably good at higher math. I'm not sure what my younger self would think of the whole poly thing. It's not something I had a label for at the time... I suspect I'd be pretty happy about it though for various reasons.

I do think I would be /very/ surprised at how well-adjusted (relatively speaking) I turned out. At the time I was mired in some pretty deep depressive muck, and still about a year away from learning that there was anything I could do about it. So I don't know if 13-year-old ommkarja would believe me if I told her that I did not commit suicide, did not flunk out of high school, found not one but two wonderful partners... oh, and I definitely don't think I'd believe that my relationship with my parents improved.