What were your teenage years like, reader?
Did you make the most of them? Do you have regrets?
Or, perhaps you are about to embark on your own journey?
Recent literature suggests that we now remain in adolescence until our early-to-mid-twenties, and today I certainly fit that profile. For those of you around a decade ago, this time I am approaching my mid-twenties for realzies.
Back then I remember a brief obsession with Star-Trek comics and in particular a panel in a Voyager book where Seven-of-Nine reflected on her transition out of adolescence into adulthood and her occasional doubts but an overall sense of triumph. For some reason, this particular scene stuck with me, and it's only now, sitting in Euston station following a dinner, that I understand why.
I wonder what the teenaged version of myself would think of who I am today? The things I have already accomplished. The things I now aspire to achieve.
I hope he would be proud, and maybe even a little excited, but, I am not so sure.
Like so many of my generation, my guardian was the internet, and in no small part, it was this particular community which helped shape who I am today.
It was a tumultuous, hormonal time and balancing any of the true accomplishments, the friends and acquaintances made; there were many mistakes made. In particular, episodes which have resulted in valuable reflections over the years, but there's a part of me which profoundly regrets having learned crucial life-lessons this way.
The internet is a poor surrogate for normal, human interaction, and there are zero chances I would have made some of the mistakes I made had I been experienced an internet more representative of reality. Perhaps then I may not have learned the same lessons. But perhaps recent efforts to reshape and censor parts of the net are for the best.
My biggest mistakes, however, were those ultimately alienating those around me, leading to me leaving this community and burning many bridges. Actions I still regret.
Seven-of-Nine's words echo in my head today because I experience the same doubts she did: Do I regret the transition from adolescence to adulthood?
No. I am an entirely different person now, driven by a mission and personal goals, with incredibly deep technical skills and much improved social skills.
Improved enough to see that without a doubt, I squandered my adolescence and so regret how I spent those days.
Improved enough to see that without a doubt, I do not miss being that person.
And improved enough to realize that I shouldn't care about what the teenaged version of myself might have thought of his future self after-all: Even if he didn't mean it, he was a complete asshole.
I hope, dear Reader, you do not make the same mistakes.
A.
Did you make the most of them? Do you have regrets?
Or, perhaps you are about to embark on your own journey?
Recent literature suggests that we now remain in adolescence until our early-to-mid-twenties, and today I certainly fit that profile. For those of you around a decade ago, this time I am approaching my mid-twenties for realzies.
Back then I remember a brief obsession with Star-Trek comics and in particular a panel in a Voyager book where Seven-of-Nine reflected on her transition out of adolescence into adulthood and her occasional doubts but an overall sense of triumph. For some reason, this particular scene stuck with me, and it's only now, sitting in Euston station following a dinner, that I understand why.
I wonder what the teenaged version of myself would think of who I am today? The things I have already accomplished. The things I now aspire to achieve.
I hope he would be proud, and maybe even a little excited, but, I am not so sure.
Like so many of my generation, my guardian was the internet, and in no small part, it was this particular community which helped shape who I am today.
It was a tumultuous, hormonal time and balancing any of the true accomplishments, the friends and acquaintances made; there were many mistakes made. In particular, episodes which have resulted in valuable reflections over the years, but there's a part of me which profoundly regrets having learned crucial life-lessons this way.
The internet is a poor surrogate for normal, human interaction, and there are zero chances I would have made some of the mistakes I made had I been experienced an internet more representative of reality. Perhaps then I may not have learned the same lessons. But perhaps recent efforts to reshape and censor parts of the net are for the best.
My biggest mistakes, however, were those ultimately alienating those around me, leading to me leaving this community and burning many bridges. Actions I still regret.
Seven-of-Nine's words echo in my head today because I experience the same doubts she did: Do I regret the transition from adolescence to adulthood?
No. I am an entirely different person now, driven by a mission and personal goals, with incredibly deep technical skills and much improved social skills.
Improved enough to see that without a doubt, I squandered my adolescence and so regret how I spent those days.
Improved enough to see that without a doubt, I do not miss being that person.
And improved enough to realize that I shouldn't care about what the teenaged version of myself might have thought of his future self after-all: Even if he didn't mean it, he was a complete asshole.
I hope, dear Reader, you do not make the same mistakes.
A.
)