Well it looks like we were at the beach with our first kid

Today there are two of them and their friends are about to come over

In 2016 I lived in Montenegro almost the whole year, worked in a small American company as the only back-end developer, and traveled to Shanghai for a month to study Chinese. And I had a girlfriend that lived in another country in my home in my stead.

Now I practically forgot the Chinese language and live in Valencia and work for another American company much bigger, but don’t travel that much. And I am married now on that same girl, so not much had changed in a way, it’s a bit rough now but I hope I’ll adapt with time

In 2016, for most of the spring and summer I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. In December I ran a marathon.

This year I’m a father to a kindergartner, and aside from that most of my mental energy is going into renovating my 100+ year old house.

I was working back then and now im not.

In 2016 I was a nervous wreck working a minimum wage job at a grocery store living with my parents.

In 2026 I’m now a nervous wreck in therapy working a $24/hr job at a slaughterhouse living with my dad (Mom passed away in January).

Ahhh…I was with my husband in 2016!

I’m still with him, so probably the same thing as now.

Not much has changed other than my health mysteriously imploding.

2016 was an interesting year for me. I had an odd week of coincidences that appeared like a hypomanic episode that never happened before and never repeated again. The biggest one being that I was dating a guy who had just told me that his lifelong dream was to meet his favorite band. That week, I won a radio contest that got us tickets to a concert with a meet-and-greet at a tiny venue with that same band.

The episode prompted me to finally see a psych for the depression I’d been dealing with for most of my life. It started me on anti-depressants, which have massively improved my quality of life.

But the biggest thing was that the episode included a day of absolute clarity. I was driving and thinking, as I’m prone to do, when out of the blue everything just made sense. I could see in my head how everything was connected to everything else, and it was intense. But I’m a skeptic, and I needed to know that I was still grounded in reality, so I pulled over into a parking lot and called a friend. I asked him to help me make sure I was still making sense and I wasn’t going off the deep end. He’s a deeply rational guy, known to recognize bullshit, and yet as I talked on and on about the many puzzle pieces that now seemed to fit together, he remarked that yes, I was still making sense.

Key to it was the feeling that it was a sort of enlightenment, the same kind that religious folks might feel after years of meditation, or that some people experience through psychedelic drugs. There was a strong sense that I was not alone in that sensation, that many others had felt it before and that when they did, they had the same epiphany that we were connected directly. The sense of peace was incredible. I don’t believe in a god and that moment did not change that, but I did come away with a new respect for those who take their faith seriously and sincerely (that is, not like the christians in the US that use it to spread hate, but rather like the monks who give up everything to pursue their spiritual journeys.) I could feel the immensity of the universe, and see in my mind’s eye an infinite web that brought everything together. I could mentally travel that web from point to point, seeing all different perspectives at the same time. It was wild, and hasn’t happened again since.

Despite it being so brief, the few hours I spent in that state have impacted me to this day. Some things that used to bother me didn’t annoy me anymore. Finding patience became much easier. It also became easier to understand and connect to people.

One more weird thing that started that week and never stopped - I developed the uncanny ability to spot four-leaf clovers. I can’t count how many I’ve discovered in the ten years since, but if there’s a four-leafer in a patch that I walk by and all I do is scan it in my periphery, I will stop, reach down, and either point it out or pluck it to give to whoever I’m with. It’s like they jump out to me. It’s fun having a strange talent that makes people happy.

This time in 2016 I was laughing at this clown who was a joke candidate for president, saying it was hilarious that he was just being a master-level troll. Then he actually became president for some reason and it’s all been shit since.

2016 was a weird year for me. I had a strong fling that ended abruptly, and I was heartbroken for a while. It was an alright year, I was working in a steady tech job and living in a share house.

2026 I’m living in my own house with 2 cats, my partner of 7 years just broke it off with me for reasons I had very little control over. I’m utterly heartbroken and going through a similar issues I did back in 2016, though more justified. I might recover soon but it’s been a really bad few years, and I’ve not been able to make much of myself lately.

Man, I’ve really got to watch out for 2036, it might be a doozy.

I was in university living in a house with 12 of my friends drinking more often than not. Having the best and worst time lots of exciting events and conflict.

Now im working a decent job, living in an alright house. Its boring and mediocre but I’m happy. I improve small things each day and advance slowly.

I was starting the same job I still have. I could have made a lot more money by jumping jobs as is common in my industry. But now I have six weeks vacation. Which, for the USA, is a lot.

On this day in 2016 I was doing some digging in the back yard, according to the photo’s from my old phone (which turns out to have been a Windows phone). Overall, I was working at a different job, and in my last year of college for my engineering degree. Kids were 5 and 8 then, me and my wife were 40. Good times I guess.

Now; different job, same wife and kids. No more digging because the garden is in maintenance only mode.

2016 i was in a shitty long term relationship for a year. it ended that summer when she fessed up she’d been lying to me about tons of things. i really loved her and i was devastated… and sadly this was the 3rd time a LTR ended this way, by someone who had lied to be about major dealbreakers and she blamed me for all of this… not to mention during the actual breakup she attacked me physically and called me a pussy for not fighting back and beating her and screamed at me that i was a horrible partner for not giving her $100,000 to pay off her debts.

I had just moved after getting kicked out of my apartment, and my company just changed management and I thought I was going to get fired. I was only making about 40K a year too. the place i moved into was tiny and shitty and I hated it. I was depressed and suicidal most days.

10 years later and i kept my job and got many promotions and now make 150K. I own my own place, and own my own car, I have pets that I love, and I focused on my hobbies, interests, and volunteering. I don’t drink or smoke anymore and I wake up almost everyday eager and happy. I am super fit and healthy and I am always learning new things as I put in the effort and its super rewarding. I haven’t dated anyone for seriously though since 2018, which sucks, but I’d rather be happy alone and achieving me goals than in another relationship with a horrible person who is destroying my life because they hate theirs so much.

2016 I was in middle school, being a disappointment to my parents

2026 I’m a young adult that withdrew from college, depressed af, still being a disappointment to my parents

(Also holy shit OP how are you already ready to be a parent? I barely figured out my life yet… 😭)

Drinking, A lot. Woke up on a park bench in the middle of winter with no jacket on. I could have died.

10 years sober today.