My 16 old self would not recognize my now self. My now self, and for the past 15 years or so, is an atheist; and, at 16 I thought atheists were basically arrogant, horrible, people. I was also a die-hard conservative republican. My journey out of belief would not begin for another decade or so and I left the republican party in 2008. My 16 year old self would have never thought, not for one moment, that I would become a liberal- minded atheist.

My 16 year old self would be appalled, and I don't think hardly anyone can honestly say otherwise, at least by the time they enter their seventh decade. I'm very skeptical that anyone my age can HONESTLY say, yeah, everything went exactly according to plan, just as I envisioned it as an inexperienced, un-tempered, hormone-crazed teenager. I mean, come on.

I've pretty much become everything I once despised: godless, faithless, divorced, and given the number of Bad Things that have happened to me, clearly must not be living right. Beyond that, the desired narrative of my life has been constantly interrupted by various clusterfucks, even apart from my former religiatard considerations.

But of course that's not the same thing as whether my 62 year old self is okay with what's become of me. I have no real regrets, which I think is something to be proud of. My professional life has consistently added value for me and those I love. I've become a better human being than I was at 16 in many ways, not least, that I'm not an arrogant, willfully ignorant little shit anymore, who thinks he has everything figured out. I have transcended a lot of heavy shit with as much grit and grace as anyone could probably muster in my circumstances.

What I have rather than regrets, are disappointments, and rightly so. No husband wants what happened to my first wife (severe mental illness) or to my second (fatal physical illness). No parent wants to be preceded in death by a child. But even there ... what can you do but let go of it and carry on as best you can, knowing what you know and having experienced what you've experienced.

Questions like this can sometimes seem like a referendum on your worth and value as a human being, despite that a lot of stuff that happens in life (good and bad) is just dumb luck or dependent on Other People or even some random germ you inadvertently breathed in.

I've learned not to judge parents by their children, old people by the experiences they've had or haven't had, etc. There are just too many variables to tie it all up with a bow. Instead, if a person gets to this point in life not filled with bitterness and resentment, I don't much care how they managed to pull it off, it's admirable.

Good question.

My initial response was hell no because my life is not how I pictured it would be back then but then I remembered some of the issues of my 16 year old self and recall that I was not in a good place so yeah I think she would be happy despite the differences.

My 16 year old self could not imagine the path that led me here, or this destination
Life is a journey; at its best you choose the place you want to be and set off traveling toward that destination ... I did that, found that when I arrived it was not how I imagined it, set another destination, had bad directions, went to a dark dangerous place and had to be dragged back into life ... now watch the world with a wry, weary, worried eye ... and I am not happy with what I see

my 16 yr old self was pretty messed up. but the navy straightened me out & my 16 YOS would probably be a little happily surprised at where we ended up.

I wouldn't have a clue. My 16-year-old self was so lost.

Yes. My 16 year-old self was fat, poor and without images of success or real dreams of my future. Today I weigh only 4 pounds more than I did after basic training in the Army, have a graduate degree, had a strong professional career with significant accomplishments, and am happily married.

Where I was possibly