Would the teenage YOU be friends with the Adult You?

@Carmetaf (309)
United States
March 3, 2008 10:06pm CST
I was thinking the other day. (I often have rambling thoughts) If I were a teenager, and met the adult me, would I like myself? My answer, Yes, I would have felt compassionate towards my adult self and wanted to help me do some gardening and housework etc, I would help do home improvements and do art projects with me. Then after that ramble, I stopped myself. I AM me, I HAVE 2 hands, a brain and the will to see these things done. Why don't I just do them, and feel accomplished? Fact is, I'm lonely and tend to be more motivated when there's someone working beside me. I just thought that was a very wierd thought pattern and an interesting topic. I would be my friend, helper, companion. Through all this I learned that I can at least give myself some compassion, so I'm going to ty and feel less hard on myself when I mess up.
1 person likes this
11 responses
4 Mar 08
No I don't think i would like me, well maybe a little bit. As a teen no adults knew anything or deserved respect from me because i obviously knew everything and knew more about the world than them. And any advice they offerred would have been ignored. One might say i was a rebel when in fact all i was was a little******* with nothing really wrong in my life so i had to pretend to be angry at the world. Now i am all placid and mellow and try to be friendly and do the decent and right thing, i have a great relationship with my 2 daughters but i really feel that if i met the teenage me he would hate me:) having said that i work with teenagers now and often see kids just like i was and usually they gravitate towards me as a mentor or whatever you want to call it so maybe i am wrong and the teenage me would have confided in me and came to me for guidance. Not convinced the adult me would like the teenage me though, there is another question;)
2 people like this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Aww... sounds like you were a tuff kid. Even the adult you would have your hands full. haha.
@raijin (10345)
• Philippines
4 Mar 08
Honestly, we could be good friends. One adviser and one that needs to be advised, since I happen to be lost at times during my teenage days. an adult me could make the change on that, somehow!;)LoL I would also want to teach my younger me to be more responsible, as I used to be a "happy-go-Lucky" type of a teenager back then. But I do believe that I've grown more compared to the teenager I was back then, I learn to be more patient and prefers to accomplish things without even asking for anyone's help.
@roniroxas (10560)
• Philippines
4 Mar 08
no, hahaha. i was quite a rebel when i was in my teens. and my mom is a stay at home mom who does not know many things about the outside world. my dad is a workaholic though he loves us so much he spends too much time at work and even sleeps at the office 5 times a week. now i have four children and all of them are in their teens now and i can say we have a good relationship than i have with my mom. i understand them and give advices too. i know what is happening in the world out there for i am aware of it.
@roniroxas (10560)
• Philippines
5 Mar 08
we have to be really aware of what is happening outside to able to get a good communication with our kids. i am a band singer too so i know what happens in and out of a places like bars and disco or clubs. i am happy also that my children listens to me because they know that i am aware of anything and everything, and it is not that easy to hide things from me.
1 person likes this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Your mom sounds like mine! She was very naive and would let us even go camping on the college grounds at age 15, 16! We would score a bit of booze, pitch a tent and wait for the college guys to come hang out with us and keep us from being scared all night. One time we just sang songs all night.
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
5 Mar 08
Amen, my girls will be under lock and key til college. I'm horrified at some of the things I've done and hope they won't do the same.
@p1kef1sh (45681)
4 Mar 08
What a great question. I think that teen me would be horrified by adult me. 1. where did the last 35 years go. 2. what happened to the 3 feet of hair that I had. 3. Where is the anarchic attitude. 4. You mean that you've been faithful to the same woman for 21 years. 5. You had a job. 6. Where did that belly come from. LOSER. Except that we said something much ruder then. I'm not sure that the adult me would very much want to be friends with teen me either. One thing that we do have in common though is our sense of fair play and our complete conviction that people are generally good, until they demonstrate differently. Now, teen p1kef1sh, let's go and get, for you, an underage drink.
1 person likes this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
5 Mar 08
many thanks for the BR. I am sure that i don't deserve it. I'd just like to thank, my agent, my hairdresser.......
@gemini_rose (16264)
4 Mar 08
The adult me would definately not like the teenage me, I was horrible. I am 34 now and I have only grown up over the last few years and I am a totally totally different person from what I was back then. I would have ended up giving the teenage me a hiding and I certainly understand how my poor mum felt, I am surprised she still has anything to do with me!!!
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
5 Mar 08
haha... we both had poor moms... I feel guilty quite often as well.
@cortjo73 (6498)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Teen me would be Adult me's friend because, while I have matured and a few of my thoughts on certain issues have changed, I am still Teen Me at the core of my being. I am still as much of a goofball today as I was back then, just a little bit smarter and slightly more mature!
1 person likes this
@cortjo73 (6498)
• United States
4 Mar 08
LOL! At least I like to pretend like I do! LOL!
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Sounds like you really know who you are and where you came from! Bravo! :)
• United States
4 Mar 08
If my teenage self saw me (I'm now 22) we would get along just fine. I really haven't changed much since except I now am more motivated to do well in school. Back then it was just a necessity now the stakes are higher with college.
1 person likes this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Yes college sure has it's demands! Would you have counseled yourself to take more or harder courses in HS or just said to focus more on schoolwork?
@kdhartford (1151)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Oh I think my teenage me would hang out with the now me. I mean, I have always been a bit serious and a bit of a loner, but I love a good joke...even English humor. I'm even still me, I just have had those adventures that I dreamed about as a youngster.
1 person likes this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
English humor is A-OK in my book. I enjoy it too. It's good to know you were able to live out some of your dreams. I always dreamed of independence, now I dream of the good ol days when I didn't have to think about where the next meal would come from or who has to do the wash next.
@jhl930 (3601)
• United States
4 Mar 08
I think that I defiently would be friends with myself now...becaus I really haven't changed that much and i am still a teenager for the rest of this year...I think that I have matured somewhat this year...but for the most part I think that I have stayed the same as I have always been...again the only thing that might have changed is that i matured a little..
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Nothing wrong with liking yourself. I'm glad to hear it :)
• Indonesia
4 Mar 08
I think both of us will hate each other :-) But the adult me will be more understanding and tolerating to the teenager me.
1 person likes this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
haha, I'm sure me and my teen self would have our spats. I see a lot of my teenage self in my pre-teen niece. She shouldn't be thinking of or doing the things I did when I was 3 yrs her senior! EEK! We sure have our quarrels now and then. I'm glad I am not her mom!
• United States
4 Mar 08
Hmm, this is a tough one. I think maybe I would because both versions of me are equally lonely, and always on the lookout for kindred spirits. Although, the more I think about it, my teenage self might have thought that my adult self was a bit weird. And vice versa.
1 person likes this
@Carmetaf (309)
• United States
4 Mar 08
Good point, I might have been a weird adult to my teen self, but I used to hang out with lots of weird adults when I was in my later teens. I would actually prank the overgrown teens...literally I spent lots of time partying with people in their late 30s and 40s. Some would get real drunk and pass out and I'd steal their cars and go joyriding w/ them in the back seat asleep. haha. At least it wasnt' me getting drunk. Plus, I got to try out lots of cars and knew exactly what I wanted to drive when I could afford a decent car! ;-)