How have you changed?

[Aeroblast]

On politics, I used to consider myself a left-leaning moderate, but seeing insufferable social justice warriors, relentless backing of Islam (as it is currently) by the left, and the failure of open door policy (as we've seen so far in Germany with seemingly uncontrolled migrants) has pushed me to the right politically over the past year or so.

On religion, I'm still an atheist (more specifically agnostic atheist) and I don't see that stance changing any time soon, but I'm not as anti-religious as I was.

 

[Zeostar]

In middleschool all I wanted was a real friend to hang out with

In my first year of high school, it happened. Except my friend was a psychopath and I was miserable and stuck with him.

Now I have people who actually like being around me, but I don't even care anymore and usually want to be left alone.

 

[Rogue planet]

Sadly, I used to be a racist, conservative right-winger.

Fortunately I realised that I was wrong. Now I just try to listen to people who are more intelligent than myself, and whose agenda is to help those who need it most.

On politics, I used to consider myself a left-leaning moderate, but seeing insufferable social justice warriors, relentless backing of Islam (as it is currently) by the left, and the failure of open door policy (as we've seen so far in Germany with seemingly uncontrolled migrants) has pushed me to the right politically over the past year or so.

On religion, I'm still an atheist (more specifically agnostic atheist) and I don't see that stance changing any time soon, but I'm not as anti-religious as I was.

I'm curious to know, since you mentioned Germany; what country are you from?

 

[string555]

How have you changed politically, religiously, or in any other way? Whether it be improving yourself as a human being or reaching goals? (I know its broad, but focusing on just one I thought would be too limiting and this way it can apply to more people)

What outside factors have playing into your change or growth? How did you bring yourself to change? Why?

Well, I'll skip my childhood and go to the teenage years. I had a lot of self-hatred, so for some reason that hatred got directed outward at pretty much everybody, and went through a phase that I was a wanna-be skinhead. For many reasons, this was completely stupid, and also didn't make sense in many ways either. Thankfully, I'm definitely not anything like that now, but I unfortunately still have a damn swastika-shaped scar from those times. :/

As far as religion goes, I was raised as an Atheist, but my parents allowed me to think freely how I wanted. I was Atheist up into my mid-teenage years, where at some point after thinking through the universe a lot, I decided there must be some sort of creator behind all of this. I believed, and still believe, that this creator is faceless, genderless, and inhuman, but I found it difficult to worship a being like that, there's just no way to relate. So over the years, I tried viewing this higher power as a male, but that didn't work for me, then I tried thinking of them as a woman figure, but that didn't work out either. So I ended up eventually thinking of her a a girl, and that works wonders for me. :D

I've also grown a much more positive attitude over the years, I used to practically hate everyone and everything in my life during those teenage years. I think a lot of these changes might be due to wading through a whole bunch of muk in the last 7 years or so. :P

 

[Palamon]

Went from being bubbly, and social to asocial, moody, paranoid, and self-isolated. Depression changed people. My religious stance has never changed, and probably never will because I don't really care, and politics? Well... they scare me. I'm trying to tune out anything politic related. I used to pay slight attention to politics, but I'm too terrified nowadays to.

 

[pkmin3033]

I've just grown steadily more bitter and pessimistic, I guess. I used to be very sociable and relatively outgoing; these days I don't have any friends to speak of, and I'm generally a piece of toxic trash that nobody really wants to associate with and just tolerates if they have to. I've become a lot more accepting of others, but I think that's probably because I just can't be bothered to argue with them any more. I'm little better than a doll for other people to use as they will now, and I used to be quite assertive about my identity.

I also used to have a clearly defined gender identity. That's one thing I am glad has changed; I hate my teenage self for some of the things I said and did because of that. Nothing illegal or anything, I just don't like the attitude I used to have.

 

[Powerserge]

Until I was about 22, I was a far-left communist who hated capitalism. Nowadays I'm a right-of-center conservative who I suppose would fall into classical liberalism.

I grew up a bit and lost some of my childish idealism (but not too much of it).

I suppose the biggest vehicle of my change was my study of historical economic trends, statistical analysis, and the sociology of poverty. The facts really speak for themselves. My communist ideologies were based more on feelings than anything else. I'm more driven by logic and fact-based reasoning these days.

 

[Vragon]

I dunno if I've improved in life but I've made these changes:
1) I've moved from a opinionated person to a more reclusive opinioned person
2) I've moved from more introverted to acting extroverted and therefore hiding other parts of me.
3) I've moved from someone affirmed in beliefs to thinking he doesn't know what he's doing or is unsure where he fits.
4) I've moved from feeling like a failure and unable to do anything right to having to do something right so I won't be a failure all the time.
5) I've moved from hardly having friends to being likable to a lot of people.
6) I've moved from being unable to talk about my problems, to being able to talk about them, but trying to make it look like I'm fine. Not showing my hurt if there is some.
7) I've moved from caring about others a lot to assessing the situation before investing into it so I'm not doing something unrealistic or pointless.
8) I've moved from getting bothered by stuff I see to not caring about so much and trying to focus on my own battles first and foremost.
9) I've moved from a high schooler that didn't like certain aspects of school to a dedicated college student who understands what will happen if I fail. Trying to prevent the issues and move on.
10) I've moved from someone who couldn't control his tendencies to someone that can, but is unsure about making hard real world decisions on them.
11) I've moved from being set on an idea to questioning myself and if I can do it.
12) I've moved from trying to be a part of something, to not feeling fit in anywhere.
13) I've moved from being happy to somewhat depressed.
14) I've moved from a guy that did nothing all day, to someone who works and has hobbies he wants to do.
15) I've moved from just imagining stuff to trying to make them real and writing things.
16) I've moved from listening to everything I hear, to trying to be skeptical and not take things at face value or just ignore them entirely if I shouldn't get involved.
17) I've moved from a person that while distant wanted to be like his family, to understanding that is an impossible dream and I am what I am. And therefore need to handle things and think for myself. Break away but always keep them in my heart.
18) I've moved from being a responsible person because "it's right", to knowing what the consequences are if I don't keep them.
19) I've moved from venting to myself, to listening to others needing to vent even if I can't vent save for some close people.
20) I've moved from a guy not worried about the future to someone that doesn't know what future will bring and is scared about it. Scared by the choices he will need to make and the things he feels. Unsure of what each road will take him.
21) I've moved from a person that would try and blame others to a guy that only blames himself and doesn't see the good things he does.
22) I've moved from a guy that likes to laugh at stuff, to a guy that likes making others laugh and smile, though still loves laughing especially to dark, crude, silly, random, etc. humor.

I can say I've changed a lot and well not all are good, but not all are bad. I have a future to strive for and while unsure I've got to keep trucking on to see where my skills and meddle will take me.

 

[twocows]

Aside from the physical (I've dropped 20 pounds in the past four months, my weight for the preceding eight or so years never varied by more than a few pounds)... I've become significantly more extroverted (though I still wouldn't say I am extroverted, I'm kind of right in the middle), I've become more selfish and less concerned with other peoples' welfare, I've become less forgiving of people who do or say dumb things (probably related to the line of work I'm in), I have less patience, and while my political and philosophical beliefs haven't really changed much, the political party I think best represents those beliefs definitely has. Also, the political party I used to align with has become full of people who are actively hostile toward me and people with my beliefs, so I no longer sympathize with them at all, really, and generally I refuse to vote for them on principle nowadays.

 

[withheld]

I was raised in a christian place and i had assumed since childhood
that that was the right religion. Studying the true teachings of
Christianity as an adult, i was filled with pathological guilt and
reached near suicide, all because of religious bs. One day, i realized
Christianity, as well as any other religion, has nothing to do with God.
Religions were made by humans who wanted to achieve certain goals,
be it financial gains or fullfilling ambitions. The real God has implanted
in your heart the right sense of justice and anything else you need in
order to evolve until you reach perfection and ascend to eternal life.
You don't need any prophet from 2000 years ago to tell you what the
right thing to do is. So, here's my advice: Stay away from religions.

 

[SurrealBrain]

A few years ago, I might have been able to make friends without too much trouble. But sadly, just a few months back, I had to cut off friends who I consider to have changed for the worse. And I legitimately cannot tell if they realized the errors of their ways or are just trying to do something to get back at me.

These weren't just any friends, either. They were once very close to me, and I used to be able to have fun with them. But time changed them, and I could feel myself growing more and more distant from them. The breaking point was when they actively tried to fight the idea that they changed for the worse rather than considering the idea that maybe they did.

And I noticed since then, I've been less and less in the mood to talk and kept more and more to myself. Probably because of those experiences. I still want to make friends. I love the friends I still have, even if I don't always show it. But I've had occasions where I had to muster up the strength just to give a simple sentence. And I really don't like that.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Religiously, I settled on Zen Buddhism for myself. Not a whole lot to say, it's a practise for myself and I don't have much concern in the religious context for other people. I'm very happy to practise, and I know it feels as right in my heart as my choice to get married did on our wedding day.

Politically, I embraced pragmatic apathy. Growing up, I was quite embroiled in western politics, having volleyed back and forth across the aisle a few times. I never felt like I could reasonly ignore it as the illusion of importance was too strong and vast. As I became an adult, I met and befriended some very successful people who have a sensible approach to politics because they have a rock-solid baseline for what turmoil really is.

They were parents during a civil unrest in their home country, where over half the government basically resigned following the sixth re-election of a president that was growing really unpopular due to economic strain. In the chaos, there were all kinds of militants on the streets, and a very real danger swept over the city for a time as they were shooting to kill. They grouped together with their local community, forming a makeshift compound out of all of the houses nearby, and the men guarded the perimeter with clothing hangars as a first weapon and swords as a backup. Women and children went into the compound's interior for safety.

It's been a really long time since leading western countries have experienced things like that. It's not an experience we can relate to, because it's never gotten that bad in our lifetimes. This is why some people feel the need to invent issues and cause problems, because we're apparently too prosperous for our own good. The only reason they are taken seriously here is because their audience is ignorant of what strife looks like at home, and so they take the liberty of redefining it for their own personal gain. Meeting people outside of this theatre helped convince me that I don't have to care about things that don't personally affect me and it will harm me none in terms of success and fortune, probably actually helping me, even. I do care about laws that have real foreseeable consequences, but most of political discourse doesn't involve that, strangely.

Personally, I've been working on dismantling a lot of my behaviours of suspicion and skepticism with the people closest to me. It's a product of my upbringing, but I am doing okay to change it and be less on-edge with the things people say and what they mean by it. In the same strand, I am doing a lot better at holding myself accountable for my actions, and hold myself back from jumping to conclusions so I can be more rational about the world around me.

 

[strangerhypno]

Haven't changed much really, still the same. My dad raised me well I think, he taught me how to be a good person. I don't know if I am but I'd like to think so

 

[LadyJirachu]

Lets see...

-I'm becoming more confident that i love cute/girly things everyday ;3
-I seem more into females than males on average nowdays^^ (almost all my past crushes were male o.o up till i got into korrina....yeah xD; )
-I'm starting to be less afraid of being 'different' from my mom :)
-I disided, instead of a florist, I want a job related to sanrio/hello kitty now :D
-My favorite pokemon are probably overall different than they were when I first made this account here.
-I try to smile more than frown overall.
-I probably more admit to liking fashion overall as a an adult than I ever did as a kid or teen.

There's likely other stuff.

In several ways, my attitude now is similar to mine at age 13. I have a similar talking style time to time. I just like staying cute....especially now that I feel more and more it's okay for me to like cute things now X3;

 

[Enpatsu Shakugan]

Thankfully, I'm nowhere near as bitter to those who think differently than me. When I was younger, I just wanted them to die because they were worthless to society.

I still don't side with extremes but am more of a middle ground and now like to hear out both sides to form my own opinion, which as you guess, is mostly in the middle.

I do still get heated, and dare I even say, adamant, on certain issues and can and will argue about them, but can at least now 'agree to disagree' and move on.

Nothing worth getting that upset about or wishing death on anyone over.

 

[LadyJirachu]

I'm changing a lot this year from past years :) I'm a much happier person now, and working a lot towards being calmer and kinder too ^_^

 

[ErM]

I think you have got to use yourself as a way to make your own growth.