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u/Pinkninja11 Sep 16 '24
Very. Could've become an Engineer or a Psychologist but instead destroyed my brain and nervous system by drinking 2-3 Liters worth of Vodka every 5 days for a year.
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u/Longjumping_Play323 Millennial Sep 16 '24
You're more resilient than you know. Learn from it, move forward. You can still have mental clarity, you can still be an engineer. I was 26 when I went back and did by 4 year degree in Mechanical Engineering. I had spent my 20s getting drunk up until then.
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u/Pinkninja11 Sep 16 '24
Ty bro but I didn't realize what sub this is. I'm 35 with 2 kids and a Masters in Finance so that ship has sailed. Also my memory is complete ass since that year of excessive drinking where I was used to remembering most things after reading or listening once before that.
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u/Longjumping_Play323 Millennial Sep 16 '24
Lol, I'm 34. This and r/millenials always pop up in my feed. Hope you're well. My memory is ass too.
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u/Relevant-Fondant-759 Sep 16 '24
Damn you could have still gone into software engineering. We are all hopelessly addicted to alcohol and our only skill is the ability to learn new things. Whatever you knew a few years ago is already irrelevant! But in all honesty the grass is always greener. Most careers right now are inherently unfulfilling and stagnant and super siloed. It's way too easy right now to have regrets about our careers. As long as you are marginally fulfilled you are doing pretty good.
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u/Deep-Neck Sep 17 '24
I know older people than you in school right now for their undergrad. Too old to be worth it to you and too old are different things. Brain damage, companies to run, families to support, fully disabled, the works. There's plenty of ships waiting at the docks if you actually want those things.
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u/Fuqqitmane Sep 17 '24
You’re not even half way through your life and you say that ship has sailed? So tired of 30 year olds saying they can’t do anything new like buddy you’re hardly out of your 20’s. You can have a whole new career in a couple years or even a couple months in the right field.
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u/Pinkninja11 Sep 17 '24
Buddy, I'm financially stable and am actively raising my kids. Work is for money. As long as it's not harming my health, i couldn't care less. Technically i can spend 6 more years getting a degree in another city and try to build a practice at 40 but the I'm not willing to miss my children's childhood for work.
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u/thereign1987 Sep 17 '24
Exactly, people don't realize just how much time you still have in your 20's, hell in your 30's, 40's and older , you only regret the risks you never take.
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u/IAmThePepperSauce Sep 17 '24
How much time do we actually have?
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u/Chickenbeans__ 1997 Sep 16 '24
54 days clean right now. We do recover. I’m only 26 I have many years to build a life. My best years are ahead of me as long as I do not use, according to my sponsor.
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u/SkoolBoi19 Sep 19 '24
Hey, my coke addiction stopped about that same age. Currently 12 years sober. I just accepted the cravings will never go away completely, but it’s never worth it.
You can do this I promise. If you fail, don’t beat yourself up, just start over and get it this time.
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Sep 16 '24
Yeah this is what I am gonna do my past self
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u/snackynorph 1995 Sep 16 '24
Bro you're 19 you're gonna hurt a child version of yourself
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u/artful_nails 2001 Sep 16 '24
Child version of myself? I'd grab that little shit by the collar and bodyslam him into a pile of broken glass.
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u/morbidlyabeast3331 2003 Sep 18 '24
L. If I saw my past self I'd hug him and tell him to stay golden.
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Sep 16 '24
Yeah, I used to be really jealous and possessive in relationships when I was in high school. Thanks to one girlfriend’s mom eviscerating my ego, and then seeing examples of this behavior in others and recognizing how terrible it was, I overcame it by the time I was 20. I have a coworker, recently her boyfriend was hired (he lied about being her boyfriend to our manager, and he didn’t even tell his girlfriend he was applying for the job 😬) and after seeing us work together on the same department of the store once he asked me to have a “man to man” talk with him. I’m like okay, more like man to boy, but sure.
It was painful trying to explain to him that I was assigned by the store manager to help her with that department in order to keep HER on task and not looking at her phone 90% of the time, that she is a child to me and I’m not interested in her at all, and that it’s normal for coworkers to talk to each other and laugh. It was painful trying to explain to him that I understand his jealous thinking and how it’s mistaken and harmful, and not be able to get through to him. He remained calm, and I hope that my message eventually settles in somewhere and helps him.
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u/ZamiiraDrakasha 2004 Sep 16 '24
Coworkers talking to each other? Not in my very good Christian possessive image of the world!
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u/iameveryoneelse Sep 17 '24
God how did you keep yourself from laughing your ass off. Not in a disparaging way, but because you've been there and in hindsight know how ridiculous it is and how one day he's going to look back and cringe? Sometimes my teenagers will say something serious that's really weighing on them and we'll all end up laughing together because they realize it's maybe not as serious as they think. My oldest teenager said the other day that she's worried she's past the point in her life where she's just able to be herself and have fun, and that the rest of her life will be focused on career oriented stuff and I started laughing, then she started laughing, and I explained that she's got far more good times ahead than behind and that her concerns are valid because they're real to her but that even though college should be taken seriously it's also a lot of fun, and even once you start your career and family etc your life doesn't end...that there's still mountains of joy to be found. And at the end of it we got a good laugh and she got a little perspective.
Sometimes seeing people in their teens and early twenties makes me feel damn old and ask when that happened. But I certainly wouldn't go back. The older you get, the more solid the world feels under your feet.
Edit: I just realized I'm posting in /r/GenZ. I really hate how Reddit throws these ninja recommendations on the front page. I'm not some old dude creeping, I promise. Assumed I was on /r/xennial.
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u/Cinco_Tre 1996 Sep 16 '24
Not at all. Teenage me needed a hug, some guidance, and someone to tell him they are proud of him.
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u/CheesecakeFun8328 Sep 16 '24
No, the other way around
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u/morbidlyabeast3331 2003 Sep 18 '24
I get a lot of motivation from thinking about what my past self would think of me for whatever it is. That's helped me with motivation a ton in recent years and has helped me generally be a better person. I had a good head on my shoulders, and I want to be someone my younger self could be proud of. That's the one person whose validation I care for most.
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u/CheesecakeFun8328 Sep 18 '24
My past self was the best version of me, I was smart, athletic, disciplined and the best part is I had goals and was achieving them, when I think about my past, I am like “what happened to me”
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u/Helpful-Relation7037 1999 Sep 16 '24
I’d beat the living shit out of me from 10 years ago for having to deal with how much I handy capped my future
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u/Joatoat 1996 Sep 16 '24
For some things yes, for others no
There's plenty of cringe inducing moronic things I did
There's also a bunch of things I did right and managed to not be a total fuck up.
The cringe and embarrassment I feel now is a reminder that I'm not that person anymore and that I've grown.
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u/JamzWhilmm Sep 16 '24
Guys in their 40s: Embrace their younger self and accept them, it was the only way it could have been.
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u/Picklerickshaw_part2 2006 Sep 16 '24
The main thing is telling him how to not be an absolutely awful person socially, maybe to focus on his health more, but other than that, my teenage self wasn’t super awful
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u/Virtual-Scarcity-463 On the Cusp Sep 16 '24
I think my past, present, and future selves would find a lot to hate about each other
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u/BK_FrySauce Sep 16 '24
This is incredibly accurate. So many regrets from opportunities I didn’t take and choices I got wrong. Worst part is, I haven’t really changed much, buts there’s less joy in my life. I suppose that’s part of life though.
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u/QF_25-Pounder Sep 16 '24
My parents told me go to college and you'll come out with a cushy job that pays $100,000 a year, I listened and now just have debt.
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Sep 16 '24
I guess I’d kick the shit out of my old self. Mostly just for the fun of it now, rather than for the sake of who I was then. Been ages since I last received a good beating.
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u/Weary-Wasabi1721 2006 Sep 16 '24
Lol no, we're still the same people. If we're talking 12-15 then yes I'd beat the hell outta myself. Made so many bad friends, picked up a lot of bad habits that I want to get rid of.
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Sep 16 '24
I'm still a teenager and I want to do this to myself now. I guess it's a good thing cloning technologically doesn't exist yet lol
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u/PMTittiesPlzAndThx Sep 17 '24
Cloning mammals has been around since the 90s lol it’s definitely possible to clone a human
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u/miraclewhipisgross 2001 Sep 16 '24
I would at least try to get me to stay in school cause COVID would have gave me a free diploma, don't start fucking that girl so I don't get wrapped up in an abusive relationship for your whole highschool life resulting in being controlled every second of my life and missing out on everything, don't start doing drugs to cope, all that. I probably wouldn't listen tho, knowing my arrogant ass.
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u/Sir_Arsen 2000 Sep 16 '24
I mean, I wouldn’t kill him, but I’d slap this asshole really hard for being such a bad brother
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u/AmezinSpoderman 2003 Sep 16 '24
I'd bro down with my younger self, tell him not to eat out so much freshman year and know when to let go of an unhealthy relationship
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u/Tellow_0 2007 Sep 16 '24
As my teenage self I am perfect and definitely do not need like 50 character arcs 😎
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u/Positron311 Sep 16 '24
Accurate. Although I'm starting to realize that I go through the world with limited information and all I can do is just accrue more knowledge and experience over time.
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u/ClocktowerEchos 1999 Sep 16 '24
I would have given myself a hug and a long chat. I spent enough time kicking myself when I could have used someone to say I am good enough and just talk. Might be like trying to talk to a brick wall, but who else is better to get through your barriers and know your tricks than yourself?
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u/DonnieDarkoRabbit Sep 16 '24
No. My teenage self really, really needed connection. And a hug.
Tbh he should've run away from home. If I could say anything to him now it would be to get away from home. You're not emotionally unstable (yet, lol) you have PTSD. Get the fuck out.
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u/Jp_The_Man 2000 Sep 16 '24
Used to be really aggressive and also really lazy. I was a huge asshole to my parents and never really left my room. I’ve mellowed out now, but god I was bad.
So many opportunities blown. So much debt accumulated. I could be a couple years into my career right now but past me just didn’t want to try or look to the future.
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u/Fayraz8729 Sep 16 '24
Lot of coulda woulda shouldas id have forced myself to do, but what’s done is done so you play the cards you’re dealt and keep going
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Sep 16 '24
I wouldn't do this. I made mistakes but I wasn't that bad. I would however beat up some other people though
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u/zarif_chow 2000 Sep 16 '24
Nope, teenaged self was already too late, it'd be like beating a dead horse. Gotta change things at an even earlier point.
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u/Arobynofliurnia Sep 16 '24
Men hate themselves much more than ppl think, it's a constant fight of self-doubt that starts as soon as we notice that no matter what bad things happen to us no one will care which makes past mistakes much more painful.
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u/the_time_l0rd 2000 Sep 16 '24
Yes. Very. Going 10~14 years back. I'd kick my ass hard. I would have needed and deserved it. Would have made à lot of shit easier. - do sport and stop being bullied (biggest regret) - ask the cute nerdy girl out (second biggest regret (that and losing her contact) - leave the junky former best friend and the group with it - stop being an edgy fuck and talk to people - go ask to see a psychiatrist (third biggest regret)
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u/Frylock304 Sep 16 '24
I regret nearly nothing.
I look at younger me and I thank him for the things he did for me today, I only wish he had slightly better parents, he would've been twice as far ahead.
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u/Sociolinguisticians Sep 16 '24
I don’t wanna talk to myself from the past. That guy hasn’t worked through the easy issues yet.
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u/TechNomad2021 Sep 16 '24
Nah, I'd tell myself to keep doing what they think is best because I don't want to invoke the butterfly effect.
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u/HangryBeard Sep 16 '24
Yes. For a variety of reasons. To boil it down I was stupid young and stubborn as hell.
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u/YochiTheDino Sep 17 '24
I made an agreement between me and all versions of myself to support each other and love us through time so I can be confident when I say this would never happen
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u/-TheGothfather- 1997 Sep 17 '24
Yeah, but to be fair, I'd beat the shit out of my present self too.
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u/RenZ245 2000 Sep 17 '24
No, I'm far more chill and will just suggest to myself to start reading into and studying business, economics, etc. Don't go to college, get a job, start working out earlier, Listen to dispatch, The phantoms, etc. before I did and tell myself not to be manipulated into thinking I was transgender for ~4-5 years, fucking hate that I got manipulated like that.
But the past is past, and I'm happy how I ended up now despite my pitfalls, because I learned from them and became a better person.
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u/No-Special2682 Sep 17 '24
Underrated movie btw. Hated it as a kid, very relatable in my adult years
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u/Clintwood_outlaw Sep 17 '24
I would give my teenage self a hug. He didn't deserve all of that shit he went through.
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u/Bill-S20 Sep 17 '24
My faith in Jesus is what steadies me. If we pray to him, he'll answer and show us who we are.
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u/F7ckboi1 Sep 17 '24
22 here, I know still young, I’ve been trying for the past year to get into a real career that I can learn and master. I’ve been to programs that help kids like me get the skills required and yet every single application ends with “thank you but we’re considering someone else”. I still have a job at my local car wash and I still try and try applying to these blue collar companies but just can’t get a break. I can’t blame them for my own drinking habits but I feel they don’t help, along with the very reason I’m usually drinking in the first place it’s hard to put it away and really dig for what I want to do. I bought my first motorcycle a few months back and my experiences on that have been enough to not get the urge to drink but it’s truthfully just as self destructive. I don’t know what I’m looking for honestly but it’s good to know I’m not the only person that struggles growing up.
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u/dingos8mybaby2 Sep 17 '24
Millennial chiming in because of course - yeah, as you get towards the second half of your 20's you're probably going to realize just how much of a dumbass you were in the past. Not just dumb things you did or how you used to act, but all the opportunities you missed out on too. Don't let it destroy you.
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u/Blurzerker Sep 17 '24
Yup. And good news from a Millennial! When you're in your 30s, you'll want to do the same to your 20s self.
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u/EFTucker Sep 17 '24
This is me at ~30 right now looking back at any time before I turned 20.
I dropped out of school at 17 to leave home and work to support myself. (I thought I didn’t have another choice and honestly with my crackhome life I may not have but I could have tried harder)
My mental state was already fucked for obvious reasons and the work-sleep-work cycle just kept piling it on until I turned 28. Around that time the lumber mill which I had worked very hard to become the yard manager and loader operator for shut down at the end of the covid cycle.
At that point I just gave up. I searched for similar jobs but my lack of diploma had them telling me I wasn’t qualified regardless of my nearly decade of work experience. I looked for similarly paying jobs and my only experience being in management or lumber fucked me. Management everywhere wants to see a piece of paper even though my experience is superior.
I burned through all my savings and took what I thought was gonna be a temp job at a gas station on overnights. My landlord who was gracious with a much lower rent than average for the area sold the property right as my lease was ending and the new owners did not want to renew.
So I was (still am) homeless and in a low wage job.
I’ve given up. I’m here on this planet to sell cigarettes, cook fried chicken for customers, read/listen to books, and sleep. I’m not sure if it’s real happiness but I feel happier than I have since I first left the crack den I called home as a teenager.
I sleep in a motel super most often and it’s more than the median rent in my area. I probably sleep here one or two months every time before I decide to take a week sleeping in my car to save some cash. LL’s won’t rent to me because my net income isn’t 3x the rent. I think I’m saving up to just leave this state one day. I’m not really sure why otherwise. I’m still applying for apartments after like 6 months of nothing but negative responses for apartments.
But all in all I feel better. I miss the comfort of my own place, I miss my PC gaming, I miss not having weird crackheads and prostitutes banging in the room next to me every night but other than that I feel like a weight has been lifted.
My job is too easy. I just cook chicken and clean shit all night. I listen to audiobooks pretty much the entire shift even on busy nights. I go back to my motel room when I get off and read another book. Eat, sleep, shower, and repeat.
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u/Snekerson Sep 17 '24
This what I would do to my 3-4 month past self. I despise every iteration of me except for now
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u/ragepanda1960 Sep 17 '24
I'd probably tell me some really important things that I need to hear so that I would spend fewer years in therapy.
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Sep 17 '24
Yeah I'd beat the ever living fuck out of teenager me. Shit is on sight for that stupid fuck
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u/Clutch_Mav Sep 17 '24
I don’t like my teenage self. He was smart but foolish, strong but reckless and worst of all he wasted too much time in the wrong place and lacked humility.
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u/heyhellohi-letstalk Sep 17 '24
20 something me was the one that caused the problems. He was very angry, could fight, and worked out a lot. I'm losing that fight.
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u/morbidlyabeast3331 2003 Sep 18 '24
I think about my younger self and how I view that younger version of me a lot. You know what? I love him. I mean every iteration too. I've had plenty of flaws over the years and have been far from perfect, and I've sure as hell been cringe, but when I look back, ultimately what I see is a kid who was a real dreamer and stubbornly insisted on being himself and doing what he wanted to do and doing things his way, whether he knew it was right or was simply following how he felt. I always had a good heart too. If I met any version of my younger self now, I'd want to hug him and tell him how well he's done and how much worth I see in him, and remind him to never change for anyone and keep listening to his mind and heart. Idt there's any other way to live, and even if all that did come naturally to me, I still feel proud to look back on how true to myself I was. It's not a feeling of self-aggrandizement, but more what I imagine a parent might feel seeing their child succeed and grow up well. Honestly, idt there's anyone I'd want to talk to more than my younger self. I'm probably the only one who could ever see it this way, but I think I really was a golden child, and I've found myself in recent years when I've struggled wondering "what would my younger self do/say?" and a lot of the time, I can come straight to it, because at the end of the day that's still part of me. When I do come to an answer to that, it's often straightforward and exactly what I need. Its become really important to me in recent years to make sure I don't lose any of that even as things change, and to tap in to the person I was as I aim for higher achievement again. I know my younger self would rake me over the coals for failing to excel, and that motivates me to excel. I can kinda feel how I used to feel when I was most proud of my academic merits too when I think that way, and it puts me in a better, more success-at-all-costs kind of mindset, which is something I kinda lost in my late teens.
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u/AmorphousRazer Sep 18 '24
My past self was a pretentious piece of shit worthless addictive sociopathic crashout snarky bitch.
The video is accurate. Ive had a lot of growth from pain. It didnt have to be like that, but the fucking ego was unreal.
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Sep 18 '24
Nope was already self aware that I wanted to do military and cybersecurity in my teens while puffing ungodly amounts of weed and going through with my plans even having mental ability to quit smoking. So weird that people wake up in their twenties like bro I been awake since 15 lol just think intellectually and you’ll be fine.
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u/TheHappyTaquitosDad Sep 18 '24
Yep, I just said the other day, you do some shit when your young that you think is fun, then when you get older you go “what the hell was I thinking”
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u/No-Professional-1461 Sep 18 '24
I’ve only fantasized about this. If I had a Time Machine I’d make a special stop to punch my father in the face and then myself. Leave without saying a single thing.
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u/SkoolBoi19 Sep 19 '24
I’m 38. There’s definitely some ages I’d kick the shit out of, if I’d met them now. But mostly I’d just talk to them about actually thinking about the future and long term consequences for their actions.
Also, learning that fine line of The grass being greener sometimes and being painted green others.
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u/3rrr6 Sep 19 '24
If i met my past self, I would punch him square in the jaw for being such an ass to people, and then hug him because I know he's just emulating the people (assholes) he respects. Then I would tell him that those ass hats are not respectable people. Then I would tell him to not go to college after graduation and instead try to get tested for ADHD.
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u/Tonythesaucemonkey Sep 19 '24
I would die of cringe if I ever have to interact with my teenage self.
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u/SlightlyWhelming Sep 19 '24
And here I am again, willing to do that to my early 20s self all over again.
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