I think 14 year old me would be most disappointed that I'm no longer catholic. She'd probably be a mix of angry and excited that I'm trans. Shocked and confused when I explain to her that her parents' marriage is really really bad and she's going to need therapy for the way her dad treats her. Then she's going to be kinda pissed when I tell her that her dad is right about her needing to do better in school, it's just that he shouldn't be yelling at her until she self harms about it. She'll be proud I'm still friends with her friends and that I got out of Ohio to somewhere cool.

Oh then she's going to be incredibly disappointed I married someone with tattoos, especially since I'll call her a classist little shit about it, and that I never had kids.

I think i would be mostly proud of myself. I did a lot of things right, but recently i keep asking myself the question "would i want to spend time with myself"? Like if there was a perfect clone of myself, same mindset, same body, same everything, would i like them?

Most of my life, the answer has been "Yes". Now, i'm starting to respond to it with "no", actually not. I'm just not the kind of person myself that i myself would like to be around; ironically that's what makes me more popular among other people, it seems. So i've traded liking to be around myself to others liking to be around me. I still like myself, but i wouldn't wanna be with another version of myself, if that makes sense. Of some things, there better exist only one of it, if you know what i mean.

My 14 year old self would just be impressed I am alive

I'm not sure if I'd be proud or disappointed.

I don't know if I'd be excited that I found things that made life worth living, or consider myself a failure for getting it wrong when I tried. Reflecting on that age, I don't think myself an idiot or anything, I just see a kid who tried their best with what they had, and had already given up on what seemed like an inescapable situation. I feel bad for 14 year-old me, and I'm not sure I'd be able to face that kid without feeling completely destroyed.

At 14 I was self harming and only couple years from my first suicide attempt. I don’t do either now, so yes, probably

Look man, If I wanted to disappoint two people at once I'd take my parents out for dinner or find a couple of neurotypicals and have a threesome.

Yeah

If I had advice to give my younger self, I'd have to be very careful about the whole causality problem. At 45 I have two awesome kids aged 5 and 2. I have an amazing wife who multiplies both my happiness and ability to make a living. Both my wife and I were previously divorced. I wouldn't change anything that might prevent me from meeting her and helping to bring my kids into the world.

If I had perfect temporal guardrails that would ensure this family path, I'd tell my younger self that it works out pretty well in the long run, but huge mistakes were needed to forge me into who I am today. Also, buy Nvidia stock.

I'm going to enjoy torturing my 14-year-old self. My 14-year-old self was a shithead. But I was raised in a conservative Catholic house, and at that age I firmly embraced the version of reality common among the Fox News set. I was that annoying conservative high schooler. Sure I was repping hard, but I was still an idiot.

Now I'm a late-30s trans woman, about to celebrate 8 years of marriage to my wonderful husband.

The things I can say. I'm going to haunt this kid's dreams.

I dunno about "proud", 14-year-old me was around when saying "gay" was usually a punchline, or an insult. Maybe he'd be surprised about my ex-boyfriend. Or my current boyfriend.

Whatever problems he might have with my current self, he'd definitely come around after all the insider trading information I'd give him. Then he'd definitely be quick about doing things I actually wish I'd done sooner, like quitting marching band and switching to theatre. Focusing on trades, rather than racking up debt, then later burning out trying to get an engineering degree. Things like that.

14 year old me would be confused and horrified by more than one thing. Starting with the LGBTQ+ acceptance, no faith, the fact that I'm doing a job that would be considered inhumane at all, and that I'm under some boss.

On top of that, I am no longer asexual, so imagine how mind-blowing that is to someone for who doing the things I did was completelly unthinkable.

Oh and the whole saving a life thing, my psych diagnosis proving I'm not simply lazy, the anti-human relationships outlook, lack of gaming desire.

More than anything he'd probably be enlightened by the fact that I like banging dudes too.

Hell yeah she would. I'm relatively safe and no longer being traumatized, that's all she ever wanted.

Probably not, but the Steam Deck would blow his mind.

Yeah. Wiser, a bit less impulsive free from the abuse of my parents, still playing Magic, still reading comic books, covered in tattoos, been to every punk show that kid ever dreamed of going to and more, touched boobs (like, under her bra even) on a few occasions… I got to be the adult 14yo me wanted to be.

14 year old me unironically listened to Sargon of Akad. I would kick that little shit in the ribs before sacrificing him in a Blòt.

Real talk, i was on Accutane back then and i seriously don't remember much of my life between 13-15yo. I was only supposed to be on it for 6 months but insurance crap left me taking half doses for a couple year. The pros of that time are, ill never have a pimple again... cons include, i have extremely dry skin all the time, i tried to murder my mom, i tried to kill myself several times, i have limited memory of my early teen years, it took me years afterwards to feel "like me". Would 14 year old me be proud of me? He'd probly pull a knife on me and forget it ever happened.
Ha ha sorry got a little dark there for a second. IDK if its even available anymore but stay away from that crap if it is.

Shocked that I am still alive.

Extremely unsurprised by my mental health.

Yeah I'm what my 14 y/o self never wanted to become and I'm fine with disappointing him lol

I'm one of the few people who's 14 yo self would fucking admire, mostly for stupid teenage horny reasons but also video game industry reasons.

Probably not, but I'm not very proud him either soo...

Honestly 14 year old me might not like what I do, but I wish she could have found out then what I would finally become.

14-year-old me would not be impressed, but 24-year-old me would be.

The difference is experience and understanding what the hell we're all up against.

Now? Doubt it.

Like 3-5 years ago? Sure.

14-year-old me would be shocked that I'm even alive at 38, let alone living comfortably with a loving family.