If you could have a conversation with your teenage self...

[Evaccaneer Doom]

... What would you tell him/her?

I think I'd tell myself to live a little, to not be afraid of rejection, and to stop hanging out with people who openly hate me just to further my own self-destructive behavior.

What about you?

I'd tell him to touch some fucking grass for once and start hanging out with people. Never realised I liked to walk around the neighborhood until I had already graduated and my friends moved out. Now I have a long history of social awkwardness even though I was the self proclaimed "popular kid" from talking to people. Still full of those regrets. But hey, at least I beat all 6 NES Mega Man games 2 years after getting 3DS Legacy Collection

Also I would've told him to input those phone numbers from my last year of summer camp (other campers of course). Lost them one day and they were all really nice people too, wonder what they're up to now

 

[What's His Face]

Sorta the same for me as a pedagogue. I love most of the kids most of the time, and the kindness and love they reciprocate is worth its weight in gold - with that I don't mind one but that I'm not driving a lamborgini - but a few of the kids, the ones who are... challenged... can be a handfuld. But most of all it hurts me when they are mean to each other.

One day a boy (4 years old) who had absolutely no sympathy for anyone (all us adults breathed in relief when he went home for the day), started taking a series of neatly lined up decorations the other kids had made... and began throwing them AT the other kids with blatant force.

It's one thing that he tried to hurt them, but breaking the stuff they had made, when he himself got upset the other day when someone ACCIDENTALLY tore one of his drawings... that shit brings my shit to a boil. Like, you can dish it out hommie, but ya sure can't take it. It is fine breaking others stuff, but when they break yours on accident ya break down? You're gonna have problems when you grow up.

Post automatically merged: Feb 7, 2025

I would say: FUCKING STAY IN SCHOOL YOU IDIOT SO YOU DON'T END UP A NAMELESS LOSER THAT NOBODY WANTS AND WHOM YOUR FAMILY IS ASHAMED OF!!!!

I wish corporal punishment with Cricket Bats was legal...

 

[Deleted member 121503]

Its a fulfilling job for the most part but there are days I get home thinking to myself: "Man, I hate kids"

Man, I could absolutely never be a teacher, lol. I already hated kids/teenagers when I was one, I really can't imagine having to deal with teenagers again while being paid a peanut lol

Post automatically merged: Feb 7, 2025

I feel like I wouldn't say much because for all the bad stuff that happened, I'm still here, and there was a lot of good that happened. Some of the good even happened as a direct result of having the bad happen. So I don't think I'd go back and be like "don't get involved with these people" or "don't visit this place" or whatever. I wouldn't want to erase people who've come into my life or things I might not have known otherwise. I might go back with like... the winning numbers for a powerball on the week before someone won a huge jackpot, but within the last year or so. That way my experience is still largely the same, but going forward I can take care of people? It's tricky. Unless we're talking DBZ-style time travel where it won't affect me anyway, and then I can tell kid me everything and maybe that dude will be famous for foretelling the future and also knowing when to retire from fortunetelling.

Yeah, completely agree. As much as I don't like the bad things that happened to me through my life, they still were what made me grow as a person, and I wouldn't change all of this tbh.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

Man, I could absolutely never be a teacher, lol. I already hated kids/teenagers when I was one, I really can't imagine having to deal with teenagers again while being paid a peanut lol

What I learned is that teenagers operate on the principle of "you gotta respect to be respected" -- don't insult their intelligence, challenge them without steamrolling them from your position of authority, ask for their input and make the material engaging and they WILL follow.

Some are jerks for the sake of it, though. That's undeniable lol.

 

[Chezlyn]

Nothing.
I'd just stand there and he'd look at me.
He'd be disappointed at what I've become...
... and I'd be too ashamed to even look him in the eyes.

 

[Deleted member 121503]

What I learned is that teenagers operate on the principle of "you gotta respect to be respected" -- don't insult their intelligence, challenge them without steamrolling them from your position of authority, ask for their input and make the material engaging and they WILL follow.

Some are jerks for the sake of it, though. That's undeniable lol.

Yup. That's the type of teachers I felt more comfortable with. You can really feel it whenever a teacher is doing it just to pay their bills, and that's fine, it's a difficult job, it's not like everyone can be passionate about it, but from a student point of view that's kinda depressing. That was the case with my high school CS teacher, it was really obvious she was doing it completely devoid of any interest, and boy as a student passionate about her subject was it sad.

 

[MegaHiro91]

I wish corporal punishment with Cricket Bats was legal...

In his case I would too, because with kids who won't listen to reason no matter what you say or do, nothing makes you feel more powerless.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

You are going to drop out of engineering, so take that sabbatical year instead, and study what you want when you return.

It is fine to go to college just because you wanna learn, don't worry about your degree being useless monetarily wise, you will be fine.

Ask her out, it would have worked out (young me will know exactly who i mean).

DON"T SELL YOUR DS.


That's about it.

 

[elbanano]

never get into fandoms

 

[DragonMals]

Your appreciation for friends is harmful to you. Forget about it, and focus on achieving your goals. Friends will come to you, not you putting yourself out there.

 

[RetroLaw]

"Enjoy your hair while you can'

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

"Enjoy your hair while you can'

That is unironically a good piece of advise for the younglings. Had a hair cut today and it was almost a scam XD

 

[Don Patch]

Yeah... IF, right?!

Teenage me was a shit.
...that's... yeah, that's all I got ?‍

 

[RanmyakuIchi's icon RanmyakuIchi RanmyakuIchi]

More seriously for me, to calm down and relax. Having lived through being bullied doesn't give you an excuse to hurt others. That there is strength in kindness, in patience. That being tough is pointless without empathy to guide it.

 

[medisinn]

First, I'd berate him for wasting his youth and having nothing to show of it, and he'd freak out that I'm in my late 30s and am perpetually single, always working passionless low-paying jobs, and not doing anything creatively fulfilling. After that, I'd tell him to learn to accept failure, and not fear it. I'd show him how nothing he thought would work out ever did, and yet life keeps moving on anyway with more opportunities to succeed or mess up always around the corner. I'd stress the importance of not waiting for the perfect moment to ask that girl out, or to get good enough at bass to ask a friend to start a band with you. Those moments don't exist, and you lose by default if you wait too long and an opportunity evaporates, which is worse than trying and being turned down. Barrelling forward and going for what you want and hoping you don't fuck things up too much is the only way. I'd urge him to stop looking so far into the future and blindly assuming things would work out, and get him to try to focus on the present, with small, incremental changes and improvements. Also, I'd tell him to stop getting distracted and to stick with college, even if sucks, because this student debt he gave me is useless and irritating, even though I'm not paying it.

 

[dr grim]

Man up bro, and hit back..

also invest into bitcoin and save up for the future. you're gonna need it.

 

[lil_thang]

start estrogen earlier

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Start estrogen earlier

I'm curious but shouldn't someone be at least 18 for hormone therapy?

 

[tranzittruther]

Science isn't nearly as intimidating as you think it is, don't waste your time on humanities just because it's easier

 

[Dyne]

Mom drinks more than you know. Way more. Get her some help, she can't do it herself

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Science isn't nearly as intimidating as you think it is, don't waste your time on humanities just because it's easier

I'll have to disagree on that one.

Humanities are also important for our culture. What's the point of being a highly advanced society scientifically speaking if we've lost philosophy, history and art?

 

[tranzittruther]

I'll have to disagree on that one.

Humanities are also important for our culture. What's the point of being a highly advanced society scientifically speaking if we've lost philosophy, history and art?

Don't get me wrong, I do love and appreciate humanities, but it's not something I want to make a career out of. I've wasted some precious academic years studying things that would have only landed me a job I don't have the patience for

 

[King Koopa's iconKing Koopa]

Keep going it will get better also take better care of your physical health.

 

[Nidoking's iconNidoking]

That's a tricky question; butterfly effect and all. I don't think I'd make any effort to 'undo mistakes' or anything, I'm a firm believer in 'you have to take the good with the bad.'

I think I'd just have a casual conversation, maybe even let him ask things. I'd definitely tell him about some notable differences in my tastes and things (Farming being my favorite OSRS skill when I use to haaaaaaaaaaate it being a prime example.) I think it'd just be neat to reflect that way, though.

 

[Deleted member 163466]

Your college year is going to be a waste either way, might as well study what you want and not go "pragmatic", it will not work out.

And yes, as you can see, balding only gets worse, you'll have to deal with it.