So I’m 27F & only just recently I started to imagine people who look like they’re in the 30s & older as their younger self when I am talking to them or them talking to me. I work in retail & I am a very friendly upbeat person so I usually chat with customers in between transactions, asking them how their day is going & stuff like that. & as they are talking to me I study their face & immediately try to imagine them when they were young(er). I listen to how they speak & observe their mannerisms wondering where or how they learned to be the way they are. I do this with almost every person I interact with now & I don’t exactly know how or when I started doing this but seeing someone’s inner child makes me feel more empathetic towards humanity. Earlier I had an older gentleman gush to me about Pokémon because he noticed my espeon tattoo & he started telling me that he collects cards & resells them. As he is talking to me about all this I imagined him as a youthful teenager without the wrinkles or the receding hair line getting into Pokémon & the excitement it brought him. Idk I guess we are all just children who are forced to be grown up.
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Oh my god you are so sweet!! I also do this except I like to imagine older people as if they were my age. I’m 31 and I’ve been doing this since I can remember
YES! It’s kind of fascinating!
I don’t really imagine people as their younger selves, but hearing your take, I’m starting to wonder what that experience is like. I’ve found that all ages have their own charm. Maybe it’s because I get a kick out of seeing the way people’s stories unfold rather than focusing on where they started. But like you, I’m always curious about how people have learned, grown, and become who they are. I guess we all show more of our previous selves than we realize. Your Pokémon story sort of struck a chord with me. It reminds me of how excited my buddy got about all things DNA sequencing when he was a kid. It’s funny that some things just stick with you no matter how old you get. Even though I don’t picture people in their youthful forms, I do enjoy listening to them talk about what lights up their eyes. It’s like getting a glimpse into their timeline. Looking at everyone as children forced to grow up is a pretty cool mindset—might give that a shot at some point.
aww that’s such a sweet way to see ppl 🙂 like fr we’re all just lil kids deep down tryna figure stuff out in big grownup bodies lol… and imagining their younger selves kinda reminds u everyone’s got a story n softness somewhere under all the layers 🙈