What would 10 year old you be the most surprised about you now?

That I'm a girl now. Would have blown their mind that it was even possible. But then would have been disappointed in me for not having made a video game yet.

As someone who recently came out, I was kinda hoping that this would be here. It is a pretty wild thought
- So what kind of game are you making?
Estradiol is fucking magical.

i live in a different country and most of the day i speak a different language

"What do you mean you're happy with getting socks for Christmas?!"

Never thought I’d spend as much on the wool socks I have… yet here I am.
Darn Tough
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/darn#Etymology_2

That I never did Something Great™ with my life.

Didn't become a rock star, didn't cure cancer, didn't invent a world changing technology, didn't become a famous artist, etc.

I didn't know specifically what I was aiming to do, but for some reason I assumed that i would do something that made a big impact on the world. I was totally convinced of it. And it's not because my parents constantly told me that or anything. The closest i heard was a lot of "you have so much potential if you'd only apply yourself!" Ugh.

i didnt hear no bell
- Maybe at your age. At my age almost all of the Something Great bells have rung. Don't get me wrong, there are still plenty of very meaningful things i can accomplish, and many important impacts i can make on individual people's lives, - but for me the possibility of doing something that has a broader impact on society is pretty much gone. But so what, the impact i can have on individual people's lives is still very valuable, and my own subjective experience of life is just as important as anyone else's! So i try to make my own experience of living as good as it can be!
my parents had me convinced id magically save the world. made me feel like id never have to try, so i didnt. we see how that worked out lol
Do you have kids or a partner?

Because that made a significant impact on their world.
- That's exactly what i was trying to say. I don't have the chance to make an impact on society at large, but i absolutely do make a very significant impact on the individual people in my personal circle, and that's extremely valuable.

You see that pretty girl who lets you touch her? That's your wife.

See those kids - they are yours. That one can go hunting and will get more girls than you ever will, that one is as kind and caring as you can get, and that one will do dumb shit with you.

I'm impressed with the amount of people who can actually remember what they were like as a 10 year old. I've got some pictures n' shit of myself from back then, but honestly that might as well be a completely different person, and I can't tell you jack about what's going through their head.

I mean thats like what. fourth or fifth grade. I can't even relate to who that was. flashes of memory at best. got a little more coherent ones from junior high but even high school and college are a blur.

Thank jeebus you didn't have to get married to the type of men in the community/cult we grew up in and pop out babies.

65" 8K television.

I touched boobies.

Coolest dude ever.

That in pretty much every single sense of the word I'm an absolutely pathetic loser.

I didn't think I'd ever be anything special, but I also didn't think I'd be 38 and single for going on a decade, living in someone else's garage, working in a factory in a dead end position with no degree and not an ounce of self worth to even presume to choose a direction.

10 year old me couldn't wait to be an adult, but after seeing me I think 10 year old me would never want to grow up knowing what I'd eventually become lol

Hey dude, I don’t know you and I don’t know anything about you. I do know that everyone, even people you would never expect, have value. You are amazing just for being you. If you find things you enjoy, do those things. 10 year old you may be prouder of you than you think, even if it’s because of how you have kept on going when things have gotten tough. I hope you feel that.
- I appreciate the kind words! Empathy is proving to be increasingly more rare in society so I appreciate you wanting to express that.
10 year old would probably be proud you have a job, no responsibilities and can stay up on the Xbox or whatever all night.

"You look just like dad. And that's very disappointing."

I sat here for 10 minutes trying to think of an answer. I genuinely have nothing. I was pretty depressed as a 10 year old so honestly? Probably that I'm still alive. My life being a mess and hating near everything in it? I always thought that was going to happen.

Happy to have you still here.

Maybe that I went into a blue collar profession, but that I make such obscene money doing it.

Growing up poor in the suburbs, now living on an old farm in the middle of nowhere, Denmark, growing my own weed, a beautiful wife, have chickens, 2 cats and a dog, my younger self would be flabbergasted. Mostly because I was "destined" to have my life fucked, but I overcame obstacles that surprised my childhood friends. Had one say at my wedding "You were the last person I thought would make it".

Gotta be proud of what I've accomplished.

dude, youre still alive? congrats

I finally bought that Gameboy advance

That my parents passed away.

Life goes on past thirty five. I knew that was the case, but my plans and goals only went as far as then.

Kinda like when you graduate uni and you realize that there's still more stuff to do.

That I'm not disappointed in him.

Probably that I haven't killed myself yet. That's not a joke.

Very little, I basically achieved everything 10 year old me wanted (own a house, work with my dad, have a house husband, own a car - I was a really boring 10 year old).

Are you hiring a second house husband? We can do house stuff then play xbox.
- You have described his occupation perfectly. It's not always as awesome as it sounds tho: tonight he had to referee 4 screaming boys in a bouncy house in our living room while making dinner. I'm happy to report everyone survived.
But that's awesome! Having simpler dreams means you can actually achieve them! That's so much better than having dreams of stardom that results in disappointment and wasted life opportunities for 99.99999% of those people.

And also, your dreams sound like very meaningful things that make a great life!

That I stopped playing Zelda AND Pokémon

Tossup between "You didn't join the military?" and "Why the hell do you want to sleep so much! You're an adult! You could be up at midnight!"

I went into nursing instead of astrophysics. Decided I wanted a job that would outlast the apocalypse.

That I didn’t grow up to be Indiana Jones

10 year old me didn't have much expectations about the future but I'd say 15 year old me would be most surprised about the fact that I have a girlfriend. If you were to then tell me that not only do I have a girlfriend but I also have a house and the truck I've always wanted it would literally blow his mind.

Why the fuck do you have so many kids?

How amazing computer games look now.

I mean, I'm impressed now, on behalf of ten year old me I suppose.

The fact that I work with IT with a niche skill set that is highly sought after in my industry. I was 10 in 1993, and at that point I didn't even know how to turn on a computer.

What I did use a lot, on the other hand, was my NES. And 10 year old me would probably make a jaw drop induced crater upon seeing the kind of games I can play nowadays. Hell, my brand new laptop is fancy on its own.

Fourth grade? I don’t think I really thought about my life 30 years later. Maybe finding out I have ADHD; I’m not hyperactive so not the kind really diagnosed in kids.

That's I've been working 2 jobs for twenty years and am still married to this asshole who I am grey rocking so I can get through my 12 hour workdays.

My dick didn't grow.

Probably that I got charged by a deer in the middle of fucking nowhere on the tail end of a solo 150 mile gravel bike ride, Macguyvered that thing and rode home. That actually surprises me lol

I wasn't an athletic or tough kid by any stretch (smallest kid in class and asthma to top it off) so he'd probably get a kick out of me running ultras, biking through mud 150 miles at a time, ditching the car and running to work

Imagining that you Macguyvered the DEER and rode IT home!
- I actually landed on the deer and it got up without kicking me, but in my thoroughly concussed state I thought the best course of action was to just make some huge stream of thought facebook post and basically narrate my ordeal lol
  
  But yeah I had a rottweiler-sized bruise on the left side of my body, shit was gnarly. It was a long ass night

That I work with metal forming headed towards engineering instead of woodworking with a goal of fine joinery.

Well I did write down that I was going to win a billion money and move to the moon. I have much less faith in gambling now though.

That I'm an atheist, probably. Living on the opposite side of the world is a close second.

Same as you. I also fully expected to be overweight. Sort of still do expect that at some point.

Honestly, probably only that I like dogs more than cats now when it used to be the reverse.

My life has been crazy, in a mostly unpleasant but not entirely unpleasant way, but I don't think 10-year-old me would be surprised by any of those parts. It's the more mundane stuff that surprises.

You are in accounting? Wtf? You can't even count.

You got to touch a girl's boobies.

The guy from Home Alone 2?

That I graduated high school, have a job, and changed my name. Instead of being locked away in a group home where I'm forced to stagnate at mentally 6 years old, and also punished for being mentally 6 instead of older.

that all that studying and academic pressure had basically zero payoff other than at least im employed