To make the comparisons to my younger self, I decided to choose a specific age: 22, a decade & a half ago. Those 15 years have seen a lot of major life events. I'm not completely different, however, so I divided the list in half: five ways I'm different & five ways that I'm the same as my early-twenties-kid self.
Here are the differences:
- I am in a relationship that's lasted longer than a year (we've been together nearly 14 years now).
- I no longer rent--I own a home & I'm actually a landlord, technically.
- I've had a job that I would call a career. Though I'd worked full-time for about a year at that point, it was at a cafe & I kind of hated it.
- I now know how to cook. I left home not long before my 22nd birthday & I remember once calling my mom for help hard boiling an egg.
- I am a parent. This has been the most life-changing of all the things on this list. It's made me blase about poo, given me a few stretch marks
- I love to make things--sewing, crochet, painting, drawing, woodwork. I don't necessarily get time to do this as often as I did back then, but I still love it.
- I love to get outside. That used to mean hiking & rollerblading, now it means parks & cycling.
- I still don't have a car. Car-sharing with Modo, cycling & transit are great ways for us to get around & I don't see that being very different in another 15 years.
- I love to read. A lot of what I read is now online, but I still pick up novels & non-fiction in the oh-so-old-fashioned paper book form these days.
- I love to write. Back then it was terrible angsty poetry. Now it's mostly blogging here, but I'm still writing every day.
Why Monday lists? Reading the lovely Chloe's blog, Tea Swamp Park, I found an idea I had to 'steal': a list of all her Halloween costumes, with quite a few photos. She got the idea from Hula Seventy's List Project. I've decided to do the weekly lists for a year that Hula Seventy is doing. Tea Swamp Park & Hula Seventy are not the only ones doing lists, however. Click on the Listicles badge to the left to check out NorthWestMommy's list & 'assignment' for next week.
I am always loving the similarities between us. I tnk if I lived in a city I would try to have your lifestyle. Great list.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think we'd get along well in real life. :)
DeleteInteresting list. Funny how some things change drastically and other stay the same.
ReplyDeleteYou're a grownup! Sigh... so much responsiblity!
ReplyDeleteI know (rolls eyes)... Le Sigh. ;)
DeleteIt is so interesting to look back and see all the things that have changed - and how things have also stayed the same.
ReplyDeleteGood lord--this comment says 3:10am--which time zone are you in? Or are you just a night owl? :)
DeleteI love the way you structured this list---it's such a cool way to set it up. I am in awe that you can live life without a car---so so jealous. Great list. Erin
ReplyDeleteThanks! In Vancouver it's really not that hard to live car-free, with three car-sharing organizations, decent transit & ever-increasing bike infrastructure. Our neighbourhood is also really compact--we've got a Walkscore of 93, I think--so nothing is far away.
DeleteI love that you don't have a car! It would be impossible where I live!
ReplyDeleteYeah, sadly a lot of North America is designed to require people to drive. :P A lot of Vancouver has the density & shopping areas mixed in with the residential, so it works. I'm pretty sure that cities are headed this direction in the future though, as driving everywhere just isn't going to work forever.
DeleteIf I compare me to myself at 22, there are some obvious differences: 1) I am now married, though only for a few months 2) I am a parent 3) I have a career, though it is a slightly different career than I imagined at that age. 4) I live on the other side of Canada 5) I have MUCH more income.
ReplyDeleteAt 22, I had already been living on my own for a few years (so I could already cook!), and I had graduated from university. I think at that point in my life, I still assumed that life would go if a fairly linear way. I would meet the girl I would marry, I would get an entry-level job somewhere and slowly work my way up to better and better positions, I would "settle down" and buy a house etc etc. What I didn't know is how long and difficult it would be; there would be setbacks, awful relationships, huge periods of poverty, moves across the country and many periods of frustration and loneliness that wouldn't really lift until a few years ago.
Many of the things I was passionately interested in at that time no longer move me. All of that cool, alternative music I loved seems so quaint and outdated. My knowledge of pop culture has basically vanished to the point where all I can do is make occasional remarks about "kids these days and their stupid music".
I now have conversations with people about how "when I was that age" and "teenagers have too much sense of entitlement". I've become that bitter, middle aged (i.e. envious) guy!
Mostly, it isn't so much about how I have changed, but rather how much the world is changed. There was no email or World Wide Web back then, and people still typed and wrote letters. Moving across the country meant that you simply never heard from most of your friends ever again. Calling home to Halifax cost over $1.00 per minute, and nobody every wrote. It was a truly a feeling of being cut off from your past, which is something that you can't really experience today if you have access to the internet.
However, I still feel more-or-less the same, and yet being a parent has made me happier and more fulfilled than I ever was when I was younger.
It's true, the changes in electronic communication have made a huge difference on my life too. I'd have to go back to age 18 if I wanted to be pre-email, though I didn't really use it much until I was more like 22. I think Facebook was pretty pivotal in whether I keep in touch with people in other cities/countries too. That's a lot more recent though--I didn't drink the FB Kool-Aid until five years ago. :)
DeleteThe change from no internet to everyone having the internet was very fast. I think I had my first email account around 1996 or 1997, but it was always hard to find people that you used to know. In fact, many of my old Halifax friends were lost to me until Facebook.
DeleteThe same applies to cell phones; nobody had them back in the mid-90s, but by 2000, almost everyone did. I held off for a long time, but now it is hard to imagine what it was like before the ability to text or phone from anywhere.
My point is that I am old enough to say things like "I remember when I was young, there were no cell phones or computers". I may feel basically the same (and more-or-less look the same ;-) ), but the world has changed fundamentally since I was around 20. I can't imagine how out-of-touch I will be when Tycho is in high school! :-)
A homeowner and a landlord. Me too - it's crazy to think about myself that way.
ReplyDeleteBecoming a parent has definitely been the most life-changing for me too.
ReplyDeleteFew other things are so huge. :)
DeleteI wish there were better car-sharing options where I live. I bike commute, but we're going to have to register/insure our van soon in case of inclement weather. Lived for 2 years without a vehicle, though.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting thing I've seen popping up in some cities is peer-to-peer carsharing. Maybe you could find something or start something in your city? There are some links in this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer_car_rental
DeleteI like the way you approached this list. Good for you, not owning a car. It's especially a notable accomplishment as a parent!
ReplyDeleteIt saves us so much money & the exercise is great. It's not hard here in the city to go 'car-lite'. :)
DeleteI wish we were able to cycle and use public transit more but living in South Florida makes that difficult. You are really lost without a car here. And I still like to read very much too since my younger days... I'm not sure what I like better a good "old-fashioned" book or my Kindle app!
ReplyDeleteI've yet to join the ranks of the eReader folk... though I have read a few novels on my phone, which is handy on transit. These days I only read at home, so having an eReader seems unecessary.
DeleteThat's really great that you've kept up with your hobbies. I think that's really important. I actually picked up hobbies as I got older and I wish I'd done them earlier.
ReplyDeleteIts so interesting reading how people have changed and haven't changed. And almost everyone's list includes reading lol
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noticed that too. Makes sense though that writers would also be readers. :)
Deletemy 22 year old self was a brat. I don't let the panic stop me in my tracks anymore. I won't date jerks anymore. I drove & had a car when I was 22, I've changed to biking. I stopped raving.
ReplyDeleteLOL those all sound like healthy changes!
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