In what ways have you changed over the years?

A

AUM

The Romantic Scientist
MBTI
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Have you ever stopped and wonder in the ways that your beliefs and ideas have evolved over the years? Most changes are very subtle, and it takes a hard look at yourself to pinpoint how certain worldviews have matured or completely transformed.

What about radical changes? Those changes in yourself that turned 180° from its inception. Perhaps a political, religious or ideological position that you held extremely close, and suddenly becomes polar opposite.

Share your experiences. Any ideas or insights welcome :)

I'll leave you all with this quote from Heraclitus
“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
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AUM said:
Have you ever stopped and wonder in the ways that your beliefs and ideas have evolved over the years? Most changes are very subtle, and it takes a hard look at yourself to pinpoint how certain worldviews have matured or completely transformed.

What about radical changes?
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My political views:

Socially, I've become more conservative.

Fiscally, I've become more liberal.

Family is far more important to me than it was when I was much younger. In an ideal world, everyone would have that network of support that comes with a family.
 
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From growing up raised in the Mormon/LDS church, I would say that my religious views have dramatically changed....not that they were very fully formed when I was younger either.
I was at odds with the church and just didn’t know it - such as their stance on the LGBQT community...we stopped going to church when I was 15-16 and my older brother came out as gay and told my parents - who being as awesome as they are (were), chose my brother over the religion - for my mom that was difficult as she was raised in the church from a child.
Working for many years in the medical field have also greatly shaped who I have become over the years...mostly in positive ways.
It was really gratifying to know I could help someone who trusts you to be their savior when their world is falling apart and they are dying.
Sometimes they did die...and that too impacted me in ways I cannot easily describe.
Becoming a step-father, watching my own father die, finding my SO, having a chronic illness with chronic pain have helped to push me to appreciate the small things and small gestures...my heart is more at peace with itself, I am more optimistic than I have been my whole life - though things are not necessarily any better than they were at any given time.
I feel more compassionate toward other people that would have irritated me or made me impatient in the past.
 
I have, unfortunately, seen too much. Terrible things that I often wish I could un-see. I have known of such things for a long time, but the terrible-ness seems to layer on. My fellow human beings all around the world are suffering intensely, and here I am privileged enough to merely comment about it.

So... I suppose that my beliefs tend to layer upon this constant knowledge of how much people are suffering. I can't not think about it. It's just always there.
 
hush said:
I have, unfortunately, seen too much. Terrible things that I often wish I could un-see. I have known of such things for a long time, but the terrible-ness seems to layer on. My fellow human beings all around the world are suffering intensely, and here I am privileged enough to merely comment about it.

So... I suppose that my beliefs tend to layer upon this constant knowledge of how much people are suffering. I can't not think about it. It's just always there.
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I feel you!!!
It’s hard to suppress that need to actually make a difference, and frustrating to not have such an outlet - took me a while to adjust to not helping people as a scrub nurse.
But yes...most people have no clue what is really going on in other parts of the world or even our own country.
 
At the political and economic level: I had an interest in Marxism when I was younger, now I'm pretty much a social democrat.

At the religious level: I had an interest in Christian existentialism in my mid-20s, now I'm pretty much an agnostic (or "just" an existentialist.)

At the personal level: I'm more extroverted, more diplomatic, and more rational/logical than I would have been in my early 20s. Fe and Ti developed, I guess.

Oh and kudos @AUM for quoting Heraclitus :) One of my favorite philosophers, ever. A man whose aphorisms all contain an infinitude of different meanings.
 
As a kid, I think I used to be extroverted. After my 4th grade setback, I am still trying to regain my former level of confidence in anything. This doesn't mean that I belief I was another type, because I have always been in-my-head, feely and sensitive.

University represented the awakening of my metaphysical self. I was thinking and musing for myself, and saw myself capable for the first time. But I was too superficial to notice the depth of it back then. I feel like I only after testing did I start to notice things on a different level. Since then, I am not only more open on an intellectual level, but on a spiritual level. I told my grandparents yesterday to think positive thoughts and concentrate on getting better, in a mind-over-matter fashion *lol*.

In starting to regularly watch the news in the morning or afternoon, I became more politically aware, and strung my mother along with it. I am much more critical in the behaviour of others, while at the same time I respect the diversity of thought and opinion.

I recognise more and more that my development is far from over. Especially emotionally I need more flexibility, rather than pushing myself to always be one way. It just doesn't work. I have to allow myself to be what I am, and claim responsibility for myself. But it's the ever-present struggle of mine: execution.
 
This feels like tmi but whatev. I used to be highly sensitive and creative. I had very vivid precognitive dreams and now I don't dream anymore or I don't remember my dreams. My intuition used to be so clear and now it seems hazy. I live by rote or like I'm on autopilot. Part of me feels lost or buried. But I don't think I am depressed. It is just the daily grind. Maybe it's from not using my creativity; having no time for an outlet or energy. I feel like I was my best self when life was viewed and experienced through my creative lens rather than my practical lens; like I was a much more open conduit.

Maybe I'll get back there someday. And also maybe I'm just not challenging myself anymore because I'm in a rut. Maybe it is because I spend too much of my free time vegging out online. It's a very passive habit to get into. This article was eye opening. Letting yourself get bored just challenges you to think about or do something interesting. Spending too much time online kind of ruins that possibility. So I'm trying to read more and stay off the internet more. It's a hard habit to break, but when I think about it, the amount of free time I spend online isn't even that satisfying.
 
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acd said:
Maybe I'll get back there someday. And also maybe I'm just not challenging myself anymore because I'm in a rut. Maybe it is because I spend too much of my free time vegging out online. It's a very passive habit to get into. This article was eye opening. Letting yourself get bored just challenges you to think about or do something interesting. Spending too much time online kind of ruins that possibility. So I'm trying to read more and stay off the internet more. It's a hard habit to break, but when I think about it, the amount of free time I spend online isn't even that satisfying.
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I even am or get bored while being online. It does not alleviate it. But I concede it is a bad habit that needs limitation. The weird thing is, I can't read when I'm bored, I simply lose interest and motivation (sometimes with anything I do).
 
I was tempted to just close the page until reading @Ginny's post because it reminded me of my past - I used to be extroverted too with a penchant for getting everyone together and then getting in trouble. Those days I'd just do things impulsively and enthusiastically and not worry too much about what would happen afterward. And I had an interest in drawing and music which was heavily discouraged at home. That all changed in my teen years with a sort of U-turn which just drove me to being exactly the opposite.

Another big break came with discovering that I don't process things like other people and the initial hypothesis that this might be why my family is so opposed to my ideas - later corroborated by the MBTI and astrology which led me in some new directions which wouldn't have happened otherwise. Although I miss the years when I wouldn't think thrice about presenting something because it would be met with astonishment. It was also then that I had my various friends take the MBTI test and discovered 90% were NFs with the other 10% being NTs.. (this is probably what fired up my interest in psychology which remains to this day.)

These days I can relate to the last 2-3 posts here - while it's easy to keep going on something which has already been started I have a very hard time with new things and none of the motivation of days past. My friends keep telling me I'm changing slightly for the better but I don't see it - and this "not seeing it" is kind of a theme in itself. And I absolutely can't touch anything creative if it's recognized as such. So that does make everything seem more boring than it really is.

My interest in current news comes and goes, some months I'll keep up with it and others just let it slide and ignore. Definitely a far cry from the "everything is so exciting" years of long ago. Though I've come to accept that change happens at its own pace and this is just where I'm at for the time being.
 
Over time, I got progressively worse haircuts. And they didn't start on a high note. ;)

Edit: I watched this film at the cinema. Aged 15. Jesus.h.
33 years ago.

 
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Politically - always leaned left on social issues. As I've gotten older I've also begun to veer that way on fiscal matters as well. I used to be one of those wacky anarcho-capitalist small-"L" libertarian types, but working for a couple decades in the corporate world has shown me that corporations running everything is no better (and in some ways, is much worse) than governments doing it. In short, people are greedy fucks, and the more money and capital they incur the greedier they tend to get (with diminishing returns, but still).

Religion - I went to church as a kid to appease my mother but never really bought into the whole idea of religion full-bore. I was really good as a kid/teenager at asking questions that made other Bible-belters very uncomfortable. There was a time when I was hostile to the idea of organized religion. Once I grew up a bit and gained better perspective, I became a lot more laid back about it. I still think too many people try too hard to push their religion on others, but I don't push back with the same force anymore. It just isn't worth it. In the end, people are going to believe what they believe.

Personally - I'm a good bit calmer and more content than I was in my youth. The undercurrent of anxiety I feel is less of a blaring alarm and more of a dull, distant roar that I can sometimes tune out completely. I have always considered myself to be pretty open minded but now I consciously make an effort to question every judgment I have before proclaiming it as truth. I guess that's one way MBTI has helped. I also have made great strides over the years to understand and empathize with the feelings of others. It will never be an area of expertise for me but it's not the glaring weakness it once was.

Interests - These haven't really changed all that much. As a kid I loved music, books, video games, encyclopedic learning (i.e. general knowledge), science fiction and fantasy. As an adult I still love all those same things. I'm not as big into sports as when I was a kid but I still follow along pretty well.
 
acd said:
This feels like tmi but whatev. I used to be highly sensitive and creative. I had very vivid precognitive dreams and now I don't dream anymore or I don't remember my dreams. My intuition used to be so clear and now it seems hazy. I live by rote or like I'm on autopilot. Part of me feels lost or buried. But I don't think I am depressed. It is just the daily grind. Maybe it's from not using my creativity; having no time for an outlet or energy. I feel like I was my best self when life was viewed and experienced through my creative lens rather than my practical lens; like I was a much more open conduit.

Maybe I'll get back there someday. And also maybe I'm just not challenging myself anymore because I'm in a rut. Maybe it is because I spend too much of my free time vegging out online. It's a very passive habit to get into. This article was eye opening. Letting yourself get bored just challenges you to think about or do something interesting. Spending too much time online kind of ruins that possibility. So I'm trying to read more and stay off the internet more. It's a hard habit to break, but when I think about it, the amount of free time I spend online isn't even that satisfying.
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Totally this. I feel like (for me) the transition into a long-term relationship and parenthood plays a role, and it’s kind of a challenge to find the time and motivation to continue to exercise my individuality. I frittered away a lot of my solitary downtime in useless and sometimes unhealthy ways, but that time also allowed me to achieve heights of creativity and energy that I wonder if I’ll ever achieve again. So much more of my time seems spoken for these days. It’s for good reasons, but it’s changed me.
 
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