My Younger Self
What if you were able to travel back in time and visit your younger (and more vibrant) self? I’ve often thought about this and wondered if my younger self, at 6 or 7 years of age, would think the older or future version of myself turned out okay. I know growing up I was very trusting of strangers, maybe too much now that I think about it, but not to the extent where I’d jump in their car at the flash of candy.
Growing up I was mostly a homebody, but on occassion would travel around the neighborhood with my pack of friends. Okay, let’s be honest, my group of two or three friends. What would happen if on one of these rambuctious, youth wandering days I’d come across a man in his mid-20s, blonde hair, 6 feet 2 inches. Upon first impression I’d notice the man was clean shaven and looked pleasant enough, unlike those strangers you see in elementary school videos; droopy eyes, beer gut and blood dripping from their sharpened teeth.
Then I wonder how, if it were possible to time travel, would my future self find my younger self? In the movies, this is a relatively simple process because it seems the main character always remembers where he or she was in their past lives. In reality, I would think this would be difficult especially if you had no recollection of your timeline, that is where you where at this such and such time. The only way I can think of to approach your younger self is to literally stalk your past family. Naturally, you’d most likely remember where you lived so it would just be a matter of camping out in front of your past house and then waiting, lurking, looking creepy as ever.
After I realize that the only way I’d be able to approach my younger self would be by stalking my family in the past, I tend to let that thought dissapate. My thought, somewhat mixed up in this long explanation, is would my younger self approve of the future version of myself?
10 Comments, Comment or Ping
Johan Svensson
I have, somewhat frequently, dreams where I suddenly find myself ten years in the past, but with all the knowledge of what will happen in the next ten years. Most of those dreams is spent convincing my parents that I’m from the future. :-)
Jul 30th, 2004
Rafal
Dude, you sound like you’re on some magic mushrooms, hehe.
Jul 30th, 2004
kartooner
Far from it, Rafal. I just have a vast and unlimited imagination that gets the better of me sometimes, not to mention a fan of any time machine related storyline.
Jul 30th, 2004
Tim
If it were me, I think I’d simply walk up to my younger self and say, “Hi, My name is Tim. I’m you in 20 years. Look, you can believe me or not, but let’s talk for a few minutes…”
I might add a… “Y’know that girl Peggy that lives next door to you? The one with the dog? Yeah, you’re going to have a crush on her in a few years.”
That should blow his mind. Or, blow my mind, I suppose.
Jul 30th, 2004
beto
What most of us usually want is to get back to our younger selves… with the mind, maturity, knowledge and experience that only comes through adulthood, to not repeat the same dumb mistakes again. The saying that “the man gets old too soon and sage too late” never has been so true.
Jul 30th, 2004
Greg
Johan’s comment made me laugh, because for some reason, I find that my dreams about going to the past also involve convincing my parents that I’m from the future.
I show them my digitized driver’s license to prove that I’m a time traveler..haha.
Jul 30th, 2004
kartooner
Greg: That or show them a picture of puppet Angel. That was a great episode, one of my favorites from the entire run of the show.
Jul 30th, 2004
max
OLD MAX: “Hey kid, I’m you like… uh… 15 years from now.”
YOUNG MAX: “HELLLPP!”
OLD MAX: “NO! Nononono! It’s okay! I can prove it… uh… you… uh… oh! You have a small cache of porn in the drawer with your typing paper that you use for drawing on!”
YOUNG MAX: “…”
YOUNG MAX: “How’d you know that?”
OLD MAX: “I’ll do you one better. Move it somewhere else. Soon.”
YOUNG MAX: “Thanks.”
YOUNG MAX: “Why are you so hairy?”
OLD MAX: “…”
OLD MAX: “Fuck you, kid.”
Aug 3rd, 2004
kartooner
Old Max scares me. :)
Aug 3rd, 2004
Jarek Piórkowski
Using profanities to a child? Cmon.
I know what I’d say if I went back to myself about a month ago… “Get a new mouse, this one is going to get fubared as soon as you come back from that vacation.”
Jarek, left-mouse-button-less.
Aug 7th, 2004
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