What Would 15-Year Old Me Think of Me Today, and What Today’s Me Would Tell Him.
Browsing the AskReddit subreddit a member asked how would you think your 15-year old self would think of the person you are today. While that may seem like a simple question, I think it is more complex than what it seems if you really think of what dreams, aspirations, and expectations were at that age, then compare them to how things played out over the years.
I was 15 in 1993, which feels like a very long time ago now. That year I had completed my first year of high school. After struggling to learn, I figured out how to waterski that summer. Also that summer was the first time I visited Florida. I didn’t really consider my adult future at that time, but considerations of where I’d like to attend college or university began to appear on the radar. So how would the 15-year old version of myself think of me today? In one word — disappointed.
I believe people my age grew up in two worlds. One was the world of beliefs, experiences and expectations of prior generations that were beginning to fall out of favor due to various factors. Expectations of long-term employment and job stability. That merit in the workplace had value. Of social mobility. Of marriage and starting a family. The other was a changing world of globalization and the effect if had on jobs, wage stagnation while the cost of living grew more and more unaffordable, the explosion of the internet, and liberal arts degrees that didn’t guarantee employment.
People in my age group were going into a world, perhaps unbeknownst to us, where the ability to adapt, and being able to continuously grow and develop were soft skills needed to survive. The world we were going into became a world of corporate consolidation and cost cutting. Where we started wouldn’t necessarily be where we’d find ourselves even 5 years later.
We’d also deal with the reality that perhaps we wouldn’t be better off than our parents. At least in my experience, with each layoff I went through, it caused obvious, long-term setbacks. Unemployment benefits helped, but was not an equal substitute for what I had once been paid. When a new job was found, in some cases it paid less than the prior one, but I took it because I needed work.
With that background, 15 year-old me would see me and wonder where things went wrong. Why I wasn’t living in a nice, big house. Why I wasn’t killing it in the business world. Why I was middle-aged, single and childless. Why I put on so much weight. He’d think of people just getting by, and think that life became that.
What I’d tell him is that nothing in this world is a guarantee, and to keep expectations realistic, as failed expectations are confidence killers. I’d tell him to keep an open mind, and that feed his creative, independent thinking side. I won’t spoil it for him, but that side would eventually override the businessman who followed conventions. I’d also tell him to give himself grace for struggles and failures he’ll encounter as the years pass. They’re a part of life, and many of them aren’t due to anything he did or didn’t do. We can only control our circumstances to a certain extent.
I’d also tell him that Steely Dan, who he discovered at 15, would become one of his favorite bands, and always have a place on some weird technologies called iPods and mobile phones that can fit in a pocket.
