How different are you...

[Nymphs]

than the person you were 10 years ago?

This is something that has been on my mind since my DH and I will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary this year. I'm almost a 180 degrees different person, and I'm curious to see and hear everyone else's experiences in the last decade (2004-2014).

 

[Amechania]

I'm 10 years older. My personality hasn't really changed so far as I can tell. I'm less impulsive and more practical, but that could be true of most people who accrue responsibilities as they mature. Nope, I'm the same self-centered flake I've always been.

 

[Jainarayan]

I'm much more aware of things about me, both good and bad. They are in sharp focus now, never were before. I'm no longer in denial about my more 'unsavory' personality characteristics. To that end, I consciously work harder to eliminate them.

 

[Quintessence]

I'm afraid I don't have an unbiased, objective metric with which to answer this inquiry. In a more subjective sense, I'm not sure how to gauge it either. Obviously I've accumulated life experiences and knowledge, if nothing else.

Of greatest relevance to this forum? Ten years ago I was still wallowing in a cesspool of ignorance with respect to religion and just about to come out of it. It was about ten years ago that I first learned Neopaganism existed. I went from being indifferent to or scoffing at the idea of religion to developing a more educated understanding of the subject and becoming fascinated by it. It lead to shifts in my worldview and way of life that were pretty dramatic. It was where I'd belonged all along, but lacked a road map to get there.

 

[sarek]

In the past ten years i have gone through a series of rather profound changes.

First of all, in 2008, I discovered that I have ADD-inattentive, something i was not even previously aware existed. In turn, this discovery put me in touch with a whole new world of people with whom I have an amazing similitude. Its not an exaggeration to say that my world has multiplied by a factor five.

Second of all, last year july I embarked on esoteric studies and practices along the lines of Gurdjieff's Fourth Way. For the very first time in my life this has enabled me to make actual changes in the way I approach my life.

 

[oldbadger]

In 2004 I was a different person...
Totally intense...........
Painfully serious about my training work........
Absolutely nit-picking over my investigating/tracing work....
Couldn't relax easily.........

Now? I'm the opposite of all that lot, above. But then, I retired 4 years ago and just do a simple part-job now........ very therapeutic!

My wife was the same, and then retired to her dream part-time job, working at a vet's. We changed together.

 

[Parsimony]

Differences between the current me and the 10-year-ago me:
-I now weigh significantly less.
-I am much stronger now.
-I have a job.
-I was a creationist but am now an evolutionist.
-I was fairly certain of Christianity being the right religion. Now I have some doubts.
-My OCD is under better control now.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I was 14. Lol. I was very different. I was confused about my gender and sexual orientation. I didn't know who I was. I was a very angry, hateful person and very depressed. I was living in a very abusive environment and I just had to endure. I had a lot of bottled up pain.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

Ten years ago I was 12 so...I'm much more confident, much less Christian (though at the time I was already sliding down the slope, and much much cuter.

Though I probably still weigh the same.

 

[kashmir]

Ten years ago I was a completely different person.
Just getting up to make a cup coffee takes the effort it used to take me to rewire speakers through my whole apartment.
No desire to even cook something to eat, let alone even walk to the stupid store to buy the food.

 

[4consideration]

Some of the stuff I worry about is different than the stuff I worried about 10 years ago.

 

[Nymphs]

I feel everything from my relationship, to my religion, to my political affiliation and even to the food that I eat and the clothing that I wear.

 

[Sunstone]

than the person you were 10 years ago?

People change around the edges, but fundamental natures stay the same. At least that's my opinion nowadays. When I was much younger, I thought change was more predominant. Now I think a person's basic nature is more predominant.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Besides being even better looking and more sexy, I'd say I'm now more skillful and confident at manipulating and controling people and situations. This is one of the abilities that really seems to take time and experience to develop.

Of course, these things don't really make me any different, only more. Then again, I don't think people ever fundamentally change from who they are, despite how significant surface changes tend to look from the outside.

 

[StarryNightshade]

Well, I was 13 ten years ago, so my brain has further developed and my personality more solidified.

I was over-weight, angry at my parents and the world (what 13 year old isn't), and I wasn't just introverted; I was flat out anti-social.

I was also an atheist when I was 13, and now I'm more religious.

 

[Penumbra]

I was 16 and now I'm 26, so a lot has changed on the surface.

The only two things I can see that changed personality wise were:
-I used to have a constant sense of frustration with things, and don't now.
-I'm more outgoing now than I was. Like everyone at work knows me, which was not the case in high school.

But overall I'm basically the same person.

 

[Badran]

I'm calmer, view the world differently in some regards, and have a clearer picture of what i want to do. I switched my goals around a bit, dropped somethings and added others.

I used to be very argumentative and engaged people a lot, and generally had a lot to say on most things. Now and for a while i've been the opposite of that, feeling mostly that i have nothing to say, with some exceptions every now and then when i'll feel like doing that.

I was significantly healthier back then than i am now.

I was pretty violent.

I would sometimes be pretty judgmental towards people, but gradually that left me in favor of understanding, and now i think i'm mostly about understanding rather than judging.

I'm more patient now generally, but still not patient enough.

 

[illykitty]

Oh goodness me, I changed a lot from 14 to 24! A LOT more open minded and alot less ignorant (funny how much I learned by stopping going to school). I used to think a lot of things were stupid when I didn't even know anything about it, a few things as example, different cultures, vegetarianism (ironic I became one at 16), religions, etc.

I'm glad I changed this way. I realised that a little while ago and it made me realise I can still change further, for the better.

 

[Vinayaka]

Ten years ago I was 50. I'm pretty much the same.

 

[that_hijabi_girl]

Well I've come a loooonng way over the years..
I slowly discovered myself and still am; but for sure I am a totally different person now. Everyday is a new day to notice and learn something new. I've gone from being a confused child to having a better understanding of myself and those around me