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Original poster

What would your younger self make of you now?

131 replies

VladmirsPoutine · 10/03/2020 16:23

I came across a similar thread on Twitter and thought it would be interesting on MN.

What would your younger self think of you today. Let's say your late teenage years / early 20s girl make of what your life looks like now?

My teenage self would be very impressed - I did most of the things I had considered. I am probably a lot more boring than I would have anticipated but in terms of career I did end up working in my dream job and travelling to the countries I wanted to live in. I also randomly got into Oxford which my sisters had a bet on. I don't have kids or a husband which I thought I would but whatever.

OP posts:
Original poster
VladmirsPoutine · 10/03/2020 22:01

I didn't think this thread would make me feel as emotional as I am feeling right now

OP posts:
LittleSweet · 10/03/2020 22:04

Doreen 💐🦚

GrumpyHoonMain · 10/03/2020 22:06

She would be impressed by the house and car and disappointed due to the infertility - as a younger woman I wanted 6 children.

GrumpyHoonMain · 10/03/2020 22:06

*career not car

Ohyesiam · 10/03/2020 22:42

She’d be proud and envious

Chocolateandchats · 10/03/2020 22:57

@VladmirsPoutine this is making me emotional too. Teenaged me would be gutted, I never thought I’d be bringing up my children in social housing. 20 year old me would amazed I survived and left an abusive man and found the perfect man to marry and have a family with. Interesting thread OP.

Gilead · 10/03/2020 23:12

I think she’d be surprised and proud. I only had four children, she wanted ten! I had a career she would never have considered, I don’t drink and am considered sensible. I wasn’t back in my teens/early twenties.

vampirethriller · 11/03/2020 06:29

Horrified. She was going to be an author, live by the sea with a beautiful lover. She wouldn't think much of becoming a fat jobless single mother in an inner city council flat. If she could see the bit between then and now though she might be impressed that I got here.

IceColdCat · 11/03/2020 07:32

I was never someone who had big dreams. I only really wanted to be happily married with kids and a good job. I have all of that, so I think she'd be pleased.

Devoilmum · 11/03/2020 21:06

I think she’d be surprised I’m still alive, disappointed that I’ve not changed the world and at how normal my life is. How tame I’ve become. I’ve travelled, which is what I wanted to do, but my social circle has gone from huge to almost non existent.

SuperMeerkat · 11/03/2020 21:30

My younger self would be ashamed at how excited I got when I found out our household uses an average of 1.75 of what a 3 person household should use in water per day. I’d also never believe at 17 that anyone would ever find the idea of clubbing 4 nights a week abhorrent 😂

U2HasTheEdge · 11/03/2020 21:51

She would be proud. Surprised about my ambition and drive. Probably quite confused about it.

She would be like 'fuck yes, you show them!'

aurynne · 11/03/2020 23:25

I wish I could travel back in time and meet her! She'd be amazed that I have true friends all over the World, that I am slender, that I have managed to travel the World, work in the profession I loved. She'd be surprised that I got married, but happy that I have not had children (I never wanted to). She's be confused about my mid-life change of career but intrigued too. She would be so excited that I have dogs. Elated that I have done all the things I wanted to do and more. Proud that turned into a confident, assertive, no-nonsense woman. Over the moon I ended up living in New Zealand!

RachelTension · 12/03/2020 03:34

My younger self would be super proud of what she'd gone on to do. All of it.

Socalm · 12/03/2020 04:00

She'd be horrified I'm so old and ordinary.

DramaLlamaMeditation · 12/03/2020 04:54

Ooooh this is a hard one. Teenage me would be amazed I survived at all.

20s me would be pleased I think. That was a dark and messy time still, but not as dark as childhood. She's be delighted by my two beautiful children, sad about how my marriage turned out but proud of my independence and how, despite everything, I fought my way to a degree and professional qualification, then a well paid career.

The loving family and home and salary I have now were beyond her wildest dreams when she lived in a flat with no heating and often didn't eat for days. I remind myself of that frequently. It was all very bleak back then.

TravellingSpoon · 12/03/2020 09:54

I think she would be so disappointed that I am getting divorced because younger me did not want my children to live in a split household as I did.

I think she would probably be happy about everything else. As a teenager I didnt really have many ambitions beyond being a mum and buying my own house, so having achieved that would make my younger self happy.

TravellingSpoon · 12/03/2020 09:55

20s me though would look at the marriage I was in during my 20s and be glad I got out and away from the selfish prick I married.

BiBiBirdie · 12/03/2020 10:02

I think that I'm dull and suburban
Teen me was always up for high jinks and silliness,I left home at 16 so had no boundaries whatsoever and no adult intervention. As a result I quit college, and spent 2 years just getting pissed and ingesting things I shouldn't. I also practically stopped eating bar the odd pot noodle so was incredibly unwell (but used to be complimented on how skinny I was, it was the "heroin chic" model era).
I was about to walk down the aisle with an awful guy who would batter me regularly as he was covering up his sexuality and whose mum was a nightmare.
Luckily I met my now soon to be DH 20 years ago and happily, settled down.
But old me would roll her eyes, be disgusted that I am a size 16 instead of wearing children's clothes (and I'm 5 foot 8), and be incensed that I can no longer drink a bottle of vodka and still stand up.

thewalrus · 12/03/2020 10:11

Have loved reading this, though some of it is very moving.

Teenage me would be surprised at how ordinary I am, and also how contented. I thought I was going to have a more difficult/eventful life than I have done. She'd be surprised I have settled in one place in the UK and have no intention of moving. She'd be very surprised I've been in a happy relationship since my early twenties and by the three children. Pleased about the dog. Disappointed, perhaps, with the lack of career. She'd be surprised how well I get on with my sister. She'd be amazed that I'm quite fit and exercise regularly. She'd think I was a bit dull and middle of the road.

Lessstressedhemum · 12/03/2020 10:23

Gutted, ashamed and horrified.

Teenage me was thin, beautiful, ambitious and learning to cope with sex abuse, bullying and rape. She wanted to get away, to travel, to have a fab career in either academia or languages. She was a firebrand and very political, always out campaigning and protesting.
54 year old me is fat, frumpy, stuck in an abusive marriage, no career, dirt poor and never traveled. I'm an old fashioned "housewife" and have been for forty years and the nearest I get to protesting now is signing a petitionHmm

She would be proud of everything my kids have achieved though, in spite of ASD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and the trials of being brought up in an unstable household.

Kalim8 · 12/03/2020 10:29

Teen me's heart would drop if we had to do the 1500 m run in PE, so she'd be astounded that I run further than that on purpose and for fun!
She'd also be amazed that I achieved a black belt, learnt to drive, and earn more than both parents did (although that's rather squewed, they were/are highly accomplished but age and Thatcher were against them, they have/had far greater internal wealth than I have).
I have everything younger me thought she wanted, but older me realises that what I thought I wanted really isn't all that.
She'd be ashamed of me in some respects.

CandiceSucksCandy · 12/03/2020 10:29

She would hate me.
She would hate our DH.
She would probably quite like one of my jobs, but she would be disgusted how meek I have become. I always wanted confidence, and I still don't have it.

Kalim8 · 12/03/2020 10:30

Oh, she'd be delighted about having pets!

TheHarryFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 12/03/2020 10:32

Horrified by my weight.
Relieved that I managed to find someone willing to marry me and have beautiful babies with me.
Disappointed in my lack of impressive career.
Encouraged by the fact that I can be myself and people don’t recoil in horror.

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