If you could meet yourself but 10-20 years younger would both of you still be the same person?

[noname223]

I don't know about the wording. I hope you get what I mean. I listened to a complicated youtube philosophy video which gave me the idea. I am pretty exhausted so I won't elaborate all my thoughts on it.

I think it is difficult. 20 years younger I was a child. Around that time my abuse started. I think the abuse shaped me. I am obviously a completely different person because of this. It traumatized me. It shaped my mental health, my relationship towards my own self, the intensity and perception of my thoughts and emotions. Maybe these events made me a different person. I was once so innocent. But I learned at a pretty young age life can be pretty torturous and anxiety-inducing.
I cannot really imagine how a life without so much terror would feel. It started way too early. My pathological illnesses are a huge part of my personality. One could say at the age of 3-6 I was a completely different human being. Not only due to the age difference rather due to my missing nightmarish experiences with life.

The question with this thread was the following. If we agree on the fact that 20 years younger we were completely different persons why do we call us still the same. The name usually does not change and the pronoun is not changing. I don't want to allude to changing of your gender. Rather to the words "I" and "me". We always use these words our entire life though we are changing our identitiy a little bit every single day. Isn't that weird?

 

[Celerity]

I think my younger self would be shocked at my lack of ambition. Starting in my teen years, I became very goal-oriented and worked hard. At the peak of my success, I realized that none of it made a difference. Achieving my goals failed to fill the hole inside; they did not make me a more worthy person. When asked during a party game if I would take infinite fame or infinite money, I answered fame because I was a damaged person. Now, I would take the money and live a happy, quiet life. Even though my material circumstances are much worse, I can't help but see this character change as an improvement.

 

[redeyepiranha]

I'd be shocked and confused, I was driven and ambitious, had big plans for future, was dreaming of traveling the whole world and now it doesn't make sense at all. Well I'm good at pretending and people around me think I stayed the same

 

[FuneralCry]

10 years ago I was suicidal, and now I am much more suicidal. I'm only 21 but it feels like I have been alive for far too long. I guess now I am more tired. Back then I could never have imagined myself reaching this age. I would not want to meet myself from 10 years ago. It is just horrible that this life was even a thing in the first place. Existence is just one big mistake.

 

[castler]

I'm 32, if I could roll back at least 12/15 yrs, I would def have to tune up my carelessness/reclusive ways as I grew up with a carefree attitude and tho I didn't get a stnd hs diploma I did get my GED. But I royally screwed up my childhood and I know a lot of people that were around me were shaking their heads.

Needless to say I haven't bounced back. The ged is useless as I haven't sat down and applied myself in nothing. Ugh. No wonder I seekie CTB.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

No. The me from 10 years ago at least had some hope. I'd probably just kill him then and there before all the worst shit in my life happened.

 

[fishheye]

I'm pretty much samewhen I was 10 years ago. I was around 14, tried suicide by consuming several high dosage of random pills. Unfortunately i was discovered by my parents.
Now that I've the knowledge and preparation of how I'll be going, I'm sure I'll be successful this time.

 

[NSA]

I'm more or less exactly how I've always been. Only difference is 20 years ago I still had hope something could "fix" me and then I'd be on my way to realizing my full potential. Now not so much.

My younger self would be disgusted.

 

[Klophy]

My younger self wouldn't be too impressed i was supposed to be gone by now.

 

[PleaseTakeMeAway]

My younger self would be so disappointed.

 

[bubo]

i think younger me would look up at me, point their finger, and say "holy shit, your tall."
other than that i think my younger self would be mostly disappointed in me. i always saw the world so optimistically because i never got to see how it actually was, being neglected and never allowed outside, i could only ever imagine what the future was actually like. I had a difficult time understanding why adults thought the way they did as well because of this, i'd definitely have a hard time understanding why i'd do what i do now and probably just be disappointed with my actions instead of trying to understand them before judging my behavior.

 

[hungry_ghost]

Yes, and no.

I was essentially in the same predicament 10 years ago, but I feel like I know a lot more now.

A lot of good that's done me, though. /s

Yeah, if 15-18 year old me saw me now, she would definitely kill herself, without question.

 

[KQuotientW]

Well, I would not have moved to this crappy town. Stalker (not an ex, everyone assumes) for nine years, hasn't left me alone since he said 'Hi' to me in 2013.

I wouldn't have tried going to police to report an ex (if you can call him that) who was a cop who perpetrated domestic violence, among other things, because the police then punished me for trying to report one of their own by confiscating my privately owned, disabled accessible home - without charge. They had me thrown out on the street. Apparently, they can do that and they don't have to apologise, either. I owned it, no one else did. All I did was reported a cop because I was the victim. Vic Pol are bent AF. They protect their own. I ended up moving here, to this shitty town, and now have a stalker the police do nothing about because of who I am - a cop's ex.

I would have moved to another state, instead. I would warn my younger self.

 

[Zegers]

There is no way i would have imagined that things could become this hell. Well, I already had the disability and was in a dysfunctional family, but to be trapped in a house for years doing practically nothing and slowly being sucked by darkness? no way.

 

[Ringo]

"She is not alright, you have to do something".

 

[WhatPowerIs]

My younger self was more youthful, obviously. He had a lot more energy. He wanted to be independent. He had ambition. He will see the future version of himself as warped, completely different, no ambition at all. He wouldn't like it.

 

[akana]

Me even 1 and a half years from today vs now are two entirely different people. I did not expect my life to get ended early

 

[sserafim]

20 years ago I was literally 3 so I don't even know what I would've been like. Apparently I was a difficult child though. I had undiagnosed ADHD, and I'm pretty sure that I also had ODD. I was basically a problem child as a toddler and during kindergarten.

I think my younger self would be shocked at how cynical and misanthropic I am. 10 years ago I was in middle school, where I got bullied. This experience shaped and influenced my view of the world, and left me with life long trauma and PTSD. To this day, I still have emotional scars and problems trusting people. I have trust issues and social anxiety. I'm basically avoidant due to this, and I think I'm a dismissive-avoidant. It made me really cynical and made me realize that people are inherently selfish and not to be trusted. I think that before this happened, I was naive and looked at the world through rose-tinted glasses. I wanted to see the best in everyone. Getting bullied was a harsh reality check that no matter how nice you are to others, they can still be mean to you, and even bully you. It woke me up to the inherent cruelness, evilness, and selfishness of humanity.

I think my younger self would be shocked that I lived this long. I always wanted to die at 18…I never even saw a future for myself as an adult.

There is no way i would have imagined that things could become this hell. Well, I already had the disability and was in a dysfunctional family, but to be trapped in a house for years doing practically nothing and slowly being sucked by darkness? no way.

Me neither. But honestly, I didn't even see myself living this long

 

[アホペンギン]

Yes