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

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

Every so often, I go to Google Groups to read Usenet posts I made back then. I also have a lot of email from back then saved up. (Some of it is not online.) Between the two, I can pretty much tell how I felt about certain things.

So, my younger self would probably be very disappointed at my current situation (unemployment), especially since the things I was doing back then were to try to make myself a better engineer -- someone who'd have a successful career. My younger self might, as a result, start to question whether there was any point to going to graduate school, and might have instead invested the money in Cisco. (I knew several people who worked there, and worked on a few projects with them, so I had a pretty good idea that it would be successful.)

My younger self would probably be surprised that I haven't been in a relationship in over four years (and haven't really looked around that much). Back then, it was a big issue.

Hmmm ... my younger self would probably be surprised at how improved my singing is, and that I'm learning to play the piano. He might not be too surprised that I took up ballroom dancing, but might be surprised that I don't play softball or roller skate any more.