What would 18 year old you say to you?

Black Eye Guy

Black Eye Guy

Taking over the World!
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Black Thorn
Not sure if this will work, it's similar to Nix's thread but reversed.

I'm reading Miranda Harts book (English comedienne) it's kinda an autobiography and one of the things she does in the book is have back and forth conversations with her teenage self, there's a part where she has to break it to her teenage self that at 38 she doesn't have kids or a husband and teenage her replies
Have we been in PRISON? Have we spent the last twenty years in prison? Because that’s the only possible explanation for the life you currently appear to be leading.
Click to expand...

Her teenage self also wonders what happened to their plan ( get married at 23, create a successful business for 3 years then have a baby at 26 and retire to become a full time mom)

So just wondering did you ever have a plan? Did It works out close at all?
And what would teenage you say to you now?

I never had a plan, other then after high school do art in college, then work, I also wanted to travel.
I did part of the plan, got into the course I wanted but hated I, so dropped out, worked for a year and am now in my finale year of a computer programming course.
So I'm 2 years out on my plan, as I should have graduated and started working by now.


I think teenage me would wonder why I'm still a college student, and would think it weird I'm "old" and in college.
They'd be very surprised I'm not doing an art course and that I got into the course I wanted (it was hard o get into) but dropped out
He'd be wondering if I could still fit in long term traveling before working, but would like the traveling I've done. I once skipped a day of college with two friends, and went to Paris for breakfast and dinner and a night out and came back the next day for afternoon classes - it made for an awesome story to tell people when they asked where you were yesterday.

I think his general thought would be 'why hasn't more stuff changed?'
 
My 18 year old self would probably be so amazed that I even lasted this long that he would be struck speechless. Either that or, "What happened to our HAIR!!!" and THEN he would be struck speechless.
 
This is an interesting one. I think the 18-year old version of me would look at me today and see a very different person, but wouldn't understand why.

Just aesthetically, I look a lot differently now then when I was 18. I got really into working out and physical fitness at around 19 or 20, and as a result I'm quite a bit bigger now then I was then. I have a tattoo now that I didn't have then (a mix of Buffy, Angel and Game of Thrones), and back then I never, ever thought I'd get one.

Looking a bit more deeply, I think my 18 year old self would be pretty surprised that I'm going to university in Arizona. He'd probably ask me why I'm 23 and still in school, and I would have a hell of a time explaining the complexities of that one.

I KNOW he'd ask me why I never ended up with that girl I spent all of high school chasing, and he'd probably call me a quitter, even though the reality of it all was so much more complicated. But knowing myself at 18, I know that he, that I, wouldn't have accepted that answer, just like I refused to accept any answer back then about that. Knowing me back then, right out of high school, that was the only thing in the world to me. It took a lot of stuff, bad stuff, and a lot of time for me to get past it, but that wasn't something anyone could tell me then, not even the 23 year old me today. That I know for sure.

But I do know that the 18-year old me would be happy I'm an even bigger fan of Buffy now than I was then. But he'd have no idea what in the hell the Stark wolf tattoo means.
 
An 18 year old me would only be 3 years ago so it's a bit harder to answer. I think he would ask me why my level of ambition seemed to even out. I found myself being incredibly ambitious after I finished high school, I had a job, but I also had big plans (more fantasy than anything). If an 18 year old me could come back and give me advice as such rather than ask me something, it would be to never stop believing.
 
If an 18 year old me came forward in time to meet me, for a holiday. What surprises I could say. Especially when I introduce him to our 24 year old daughter.
Or when I tell him about a TV show not to miss in '97. Then I'd get on the internet and give him one horse race winner a month for the last 39 years.
 
My 18-year-old self would ask me why I'm STILL single.

Other than that, I'm pretty sure me at 18 would be shocked, like, SHOCKED at the long list of things I thought I'd never do and ended up doing. Not in a nice way.


Yeah, uhm... that kinda says a lot about my life.
 
When are you finally going to get permission to change yourself into what you would like to be?

You still don't clean up your room.

How much time have you spent waiting for something to happen?

I wasn't this complacent.
 
My plan as always been work as little as possable for the most amount of money to support our awsome habbits (Games TFs Buffy) seems to be working out so far.

I know I planed a steady GF in there somewhere. no marrage no kids so that part is also still on target

So my 18 year old self would drop his jaw at my man cave and slap me on the back and say good job then proceed to play my Street Fighter Arcade machine

At first he would not get the Buffy angle but he would come around if I showed him the last 5 eps of S6
He would wonder why I killed filed SW in favor of BSG and some ST
He would marvel at the Impressive TF collection then try to take some back with him.
 
18 year old me would hate me now... she'd think 21 year old me was a weirdo and a freak. She'd be right of course, I am a weirdo and a freak, but those aren't bad things.
 
She'd probably say: "why the hell did you stop dancing?" And after explanation of the injury: "oh... okay librarian it is then! But I'm still becoming a cheerleader in Uni!!"
 
"OMG! You're still posting in Buffy forums!!!!"

Actually, I wasn't posting in Buffy forums at that time. Just mostly reading Spander fics.
 
A conversation I can imagine between me and my 18 year old self.

I will be using the word "Toyota" for my 18 year old self because it is what my stepdad has called me since I was a child.

Toyota: By the gods! I am actually talking to my future self. You’re me but from the future. You’re in your twenties! You’re a quarter of a century!
Nia: Hey! None of that. Plenty of people think I’m your age.
Toyota: That’s because we’re the same height we were at 13. And aren’t dressing that much better. I thought we’d have some style by now. Are we waiting for our thirties to dress like a woman?
Nia: I dress like a woman. Maybe not Blair Waldorf but not tacky or butch-y either.
Toyota: You’re wearing jeans. Are we still too lazy to shave our legs?
Nia: No comment.
Toyota: Who’s Blair? Is she the heiress of the Waldorf hotel?
Nia: She stars in those Gossip Girl books we see around but haven’t bothered to read yet. It gets turned into a tv series by the guy that created The OC.
Toyota: This could be a tv show! You’re like my doppelganger. I knew something sci-fi would happen to me eventually! This totally makes up for not becoming a Slayer at 15 and not seeing a ghost that time we lived in a haunted trailer park. I thought I’d get abducted by extraterrestrials by now---have we?
Nia: No, but we have gotten into a BBC show called Doctor Who. Remember when we were 10 and would stand in front of the window at night hoping to get taken into space to travel and have paranormal adventures? Well, we were waiting for The Doctor and the Tardis.
Toyota: What, is that like Firefly?
Nia: Kind of. No, not really. It gets tied with Buffy as our favorite tv series.
Toyota: What about Xena? It was tied with Buffy.
Nia: Xena is now barely making the top 5. It’s somewhere around Supernatural.
Toyota: That new show with Dean from Gilmore Girls?
Nia: He is now Sam. And his brother on the show is named Dean. Dean is so the male version of Buffy.
Toyota: Like a boy Slayer? Like Connor?
Nia: Ew. No. Emotionally and psychologically and storyline-wise, Dean is Buffy. He’s a demon hunter but doesn’t have superpowers.
Toyota: Do we have superpowers? We are supposed to go vegan, meditate, do yoga, Fung Shui our apartment, have altars, and start being so in tune that we have psychic abilities.
Nia: We went vegan. And have a couple of statues.
Toyota: That’s it? What about astral travel and telekinesis and remote viewing?
Nia: I blame going back to soda. I should’ve listened to the Skinny Bitch book. It’s liquid Satan. I bet Brad Pitt doesn't drink soda. I just found out he's vegan. You were really wrong to like Tom Cruise more. We've been Team Brad for years. On Charmed, Prue got her powers at 27. I’m not worrying for 2 more years. No, our birthday is coming soon. Grrr. Make that a little over a year to worry.
Toyota: Have we had sex?
Nia: We have a black-white president. Prince William got married. Osama Bin Laden got assassinated. And you want to know if our cherry got popped?
Toyota: We always said that if we didn’t meet the right person we’d just have a one night stand on our 25th birthday.
Nia: We also said that we’d be working towards our Master’s Degree by now. I don’t hear you asking about that.
Toyota: Do we have a bachelor’s degree? Did we take two years off to join the Peace Core?
Nia: We actually never went to college.
Toyota: What?! Seriously?
Nia: It was a money issue. I blame you. You could’ve actually turned assignments in so we had straight As. Everyone thought we had a 4.0 because they could tell how intelligent we are but you were such a slacker. Slept all day. Only read for leisure. How were we supposed to get scholarships like that?
Toyota: You could’ve gotten a loan.
Nia: And ended up even more in debt? You were the one that racked up a $3000 medical bill getting pneumonia.
Toyota: You’ve had 7 years to come up with the money.
Nia: Each year out of school made me too afraid to take the placement tests. Especially after we bombed the SAT.
Toyota: That’s because we spent the night before eating junk food and watching a Law & Order: SVU marathon.
Nia: I’m getting depressed. Ask me something else.
Toyota: What does our apartment look like?
Nia: The economy is really bad right now so a lot of people are opting into multigenerational households.
Toyota: What does that mean?
Nia: We share a house with mom and dad and Jessica. And our dog. She’s so cute. She can stand on her hind legs and pray. And she knows how to wink.
Toyota: We. Live. At. Home.
Nia: Yeah.
Toyota: I already want to move out and you are telling me that we are still living with our parents and sister 7 freaking years later?!
Nia: We say frak now. It’s from Battlestar Galactica. Another show we get into.
Toyota: You are pathetic. Our life sucks. How can this get any worse.
Nia: Well, there were two more people living with us so things are a little better. And don’t sound so immature. I remember being precocious. Act like it.
Toyota: I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I want to talk to 30 year old me. No, that might be worse. Can I talk to 14 year old me to kick her ass? I’m assuming we don’t have a black belt yet either?
Nia: I don’t want to break my hand cracking a wooden board in half.
Toyota: Last question before I start crying. Have we kissed a girl?
Nia: Oh! Guess what? Buffy had sex with a girl!
Toyota: Faith? Willow? Resurrected Tara? If you say Kennedy I will hit myself so hard that you’ll still be feeling it.
Nia: She’s a Japanese Slayer named Satsu.
Toyota: This makes me so happy. Buffy is bisexual! The only thing better would be if she had a threesome with Angel & Spike!
Nia: She's not bi. Just open minded.
Toyota: Whatevs. She had sex with a girl! I can't wait until I have sex with a girl. And a guy. I can't wait until I have a threesome.
 
R
Robb Stark
Awesome
This is such a cool topic and I love reading all your responses. It's actually surprisingly hard to imagine what your eighteen year old self would say. But I know that most of all, out of whatever other things she might wish to pass comment on, the main one would be:

"What the frick?! You can ice skate?! Like really skate! Like jumps and lift and routines and dance partners and....and.....and.....when did this happen???!!!! I can't even leave the freaking wall!!"

And then judgement would be passed on my hair, where I'm living, my single status and then relief that my career is slowly coming to fruition so at least one thing appears to be going to plan for her.
 
I love this thread!

I recently re-read my journals and found a letter from 16 year old me to 26 year old me (which is my age now). That was hilarious to read. But hm, 18 year old me. She'd probably be both proud and disappointed and say lots of things. But I think the first thing would be: "why are your legs shaved?!!!!!!"
 
Well I'm 20 so it be 2 years ago basically my 18 year old be like Woah your buffy collection got bigger and plus she say enjoy the little things of life don't let anyone ruin your fun 🙂
 
I'm pretty sure the 18 year old me would be shocked (mildly disappointed even) at where I am now. At 18 I thought I had it all figured out and was naive enough to believe that life would go according to plan without a bump in the road. My 18 year old self would demand an explanation about why at 26 I've yet to finish grad school, I don't have a salary of 50K+, and why I'm not yet married to a division I head football coach (because we pick our spouses career, right??!?).....yeah I lived with my head in the clouds when I was a teen. On the bright side, I'm sure my 18 year old self would give the current me a high five when she saw my car and heard about my travels.
 
Well, about to turn 21 so it's not that long ago. One comment might be "Buffy actually gets good after the first season?" (I tried watching but stopped after right episodes for several reasons) Another might be something more substantial like "You decided medical school would be a bad idea?" Or who knows what. There would be a lot of things, but I don't really know what or how significant they would be.
 
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