What would she think of you now? And what you’ve become

[Elbowismyjam]

Your 15/16 year old former self?

Very dissapointed.

Great question. I'd like to ponder my answer a bit. I think she'd really like some stuff that I've done, but I also think she'd be disappointed in all the stuff that I haven't done and in some of the compromises that I have made.

My dd is this age now, it's interesting to reflect on how I expected my life to be at that point.

I think she would be delighted she ended up becoming a writer and spending most of her 20s, 30s and 40s abroad. She'd be incredulous that she ended up marrying and having a child, and probably less surprised that she'd acquired four degrees along the way.

Oh, she'd also say 'You still have a serious case of Resting Bitch Face.'

She would be seriously annoyed at how fat and boring she had become. How she wasn't a fashion designer. Or living in a lovely little cottage full of fabulous things.

Relieved that she’d got her mental health and disordered eating under control.

Well done on my career.
It was a lot harder than you thought.
Should have taken a few more risks and thought about what I wanted more.
You did some great things.
You'd have been happier if you hadn't moved around so much
Fashion style awful

"can't believe you have a cat and not a dog!"

Relieved she finally got a diagnosis & that she wasn’t lazy or unfit. Sad that she had to give up a great career due to ill health. Shocked that she married & had dcs. Proud that she travelled before the pain got too much.

That if I'd of continued to train for 6 more months I would have been selected for the Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur.....

Disappointed... also bored

Proud for ending a bad marriage and making a go of it alone. Proud to be able to support myself financially. Amazed at how strong I am. Glad I've embraced my family.

I think she'd think my 15yo dd was awesome, and she would really aspire to be just like her. So I think she'd be happy with the job I'd done as a parent.

I feel like she'd think I'd wasted my potential a bit though, despite having done some cool stuff early on in my career. This is giving me real food for thought...

She would think I was a massive disappointment to be honest - wrong career, that I got married and had kids, that I spent time as a stay at home mum. I think my 15 year old self would think I was a sell out and deeply boring.

The fact that I’m happy with my choices would come as a shock. And that life doesn’t turn out the way you want it, sometimes just for no good reason at all

Speechless at hubby choice WTF!. Ha.

Pleased with occupation.
VERY disappointed with what I did to her figure.
Puzzled that I don't big curly hair and instead straighten it.
Would love the kitchen!

Somewhat surprised and quite happy that she turned out to be a lesbian, that she gained so much confidence and that she eventually understood she was never to blame for being sexually abused 13-15, delighted that she grew to love her female body and get her disordered eating under control. Happy that she became kind, grounded, built a skill around her artistic talents, ended up living by the sea.

Disappointed but she was a bit of a dick

Disapppinted I didn’t get the media job I always said I wanted and disappointed I put my partner of the time ahead of the few months working in Canada I had planned.

However she’d think I was was awesome for finally learning to drive

I think she’d be thrilled that I stayed true to myself. I lived in truth and still deeply love the passions she herself held so dear. And she’d LOVE my taste in music. I think she’d find that a lot about me hasn’t really changed. But there’s jack all either of us can do about the figure, the face, and the ‘mistakes’ I made along the way. We’d get along great though, 16 year old and 49 year old me.

Oh God
15 year old me would think blimey.
I was a scared nerd at that age. I'd never even kissed a boy. I had very few friends. I had an atrocious home life. I felt awkward, unlovable, ugly.
At 16 I left home but I went from abuse at home to abuse in a relationship. It was frightening because I thought after leaving my parents abuse cycle behind that I would be fine, but I fell very easily into further, physical and sexual violence.

Now, I'm a mum of two. In a hugely loving and protective relationship, with a brilliant extended family. I've accomplished a lot. I have a wonderful group of friends who I can rely on and likewise they can rely on me if needed.
I did have a business, until covid, but due to how amazing my mates are, my skills from that business are linking with two other, similarly affected mates, and my DP and I, and the two friends, are setting up a new company when covid calms down enough, and already I can see it doing well. There are people who believe in me and even more importantly I believe in myself.

I think 15 year old me wouldn't believe I was her.

She’d be pretty happy. I did a couple of years of out all the time, drinking, dancing, pulling, which is what 16 year old me had just got started on and had a grand time in the process. I was strong enough to pull myself out of an abusive relationship when I was 21, and 16 year old me would be proud of me for not taking (too much) shit. And now, at 27, I’m blissfully happily married to a good, kind man, and I’m pregnant with our first baby. We run our own successful business and live on a farm by the coast. It’s basically the life I always wanted. I feel very lucky in some ways, but also proud of myself, for choosing a different, happier path. My childhood was one abusive traumatic mess after another.

She'd be amazed at the stable marriage and home life I have and would consider me to be seriously rich (I'm not, but it's all relative and she had a chaotic and impoverished childhood). She'd also be amazed at my self-confidence as she had basically none. It wouldn't surprise her to know I married a kind man, who loves animals, doesn't smoke and has a car (the requirements she wrote down aged 15).

I think she'd be impressed with the career choice and that I had a family. The house we live in would be disappointing.

She would definitely not be impressed that physically I'd let myself go a bit too much recently.

Oh, very disappointed. She would have expected to be rich and thin, with an impossibly glamorous life. I still expect that to be honest, I don't think I've changed much from the chatty, insecure, overweight, daydreaming teen I was.

A bit stunned to be honest. Life worked out much better than she could have imagined.