If I were… older (click on me!)

“When I’m 64…” is a great song by the Beatles, which makes one think about one’s own future; how different will you be from now in, say, 10 or 20 years? How will you have coped with life? Are you strong-willed enough to get what you want out of life? What are your hopes and dreams, for yourself, but also for the people you know and the world in general? What advantages do you have that will help you in your adult life? So many questions! Here are a few more to help you imagine your future:
How will the world have evolved?
What will you do during the next decade or two?
How will your appearance and your health have changed?
Where will you be living, in what kind of place?
Will you have your own family? What will they be like?
Who will your friends be, and how important will they be in your life?
What will you be doing in middle age, professionally (how wealthy will you be!)?
Will you still have the same leisure activities, or will you be doing other things in your spare time?
Will your personality and habits have evolved much?
How will your values, your beliefs, your likes and dislikes, have changed?
What will you have learned?
Will you have achieved what you set out to achieve?
Will you have had disappointments?
If you were to write a letter to yourself now for when you are 38, what recommendations would you give yourself?!

When I get older... by Clems

Clems, "morphed" into a 30-something!

In ten years, I won’t be the only one who will have changed: the world will have changed too.

The environment issue still won’t be resolved and the climate will be warmer. Many animal species will have disappeared because people won’t have changed their habits fast enough. I think that even if more and more people will want to protect our planet, that won’t be enough and our dear Earth will need more action from us. It’s easy to say, “I’m going to make more efforts to help fight global warming”, but now let’s actually do something!

From a political point of view, there will still be wars, because governments will never be able to find agreements for everything. I hope the world economy will be in good shape, but God knows what can happen on that front!

Research will have brought us new treatments against serious disease, new technologies that will make our lives easier.

During the next ten years I will spend the first five studying in Lyon. I will work a lot but I also imagine myself spending my spare time with my friends, and also with Oscar, my camera, in this amazing city! I will travel as much as I can, for work experience but also for my vacations if I can afford it.

Once I get my diplomas, I will start my working life. I will work in a laboratory, trying to help find new treatments or materials.

At 28, I won’t be any taller! I hope I’ll still be in a good shape, practicing sport regularly. I will no doubt be as open-minded and eager to meet new people and to discover new things, still keeping my ideals.

I will be married, maybe with children. Family life is very important to me, since I’ve been raised in a pretty big family. I want my children to live the same thing as me and to know how great a relationship with brothers and sisters is.

I’d like to live in Lyon, but that we cannot say yet. And if possible, I’d live for some time in different countries. I told you, travelling is my dream!

For my hobbies, I hope I will have been able to take up the ‘cello again! I will be a coach in some gym club, because it has always been one of my favourite pastimes. We will go skiing on winter weekends. Photography will still be a big part of my free time. There’s this quote from some guy whose name I can’t remember: “the essential thing is to make of your best souvenirs an endless present”. I believe photos are a great and beautiful way to keep in mind the best times of our lives.

When I get older...

Po "morphed" into a 38 year old...

Before wondering what I will be like in 20 years’ time, shouldn't I wonder how the world will have evolved? Either we will have realized that our planet is overexploited and we will have adapted our ways of lives to the situation or we will have carried on saying "we have the time" and we will live in a polluted world, breathe polluted air and swim in polluted water. Perhaps I am pessimistic, but I rather believe in the second hypothesis.

For my part, in 20 years, I will have had the time to study, to travel; in a nutshell: to start making a life for myself!

What will it be like? Well, maybe the first question to ask is: "What will I look like ?". As I will still be smoking, I can imagine that I will have wrinkles and a yellow skin. And also yellow teeth. But thanks to Colgate and L’Oreal, maybe I will have been spared this horror. Wait and see…
What about my health? I've already said that I will not have changed my smoking habit, so there is some risk that my lungs will be ruined. Nevertheless, I'm rather sporty so I hope it will have counterbalanced the effects of the tobacco.

Then, the most important issue is: "will I succeed in my studies and what about my job?". I am somebody who is determined and motivated. That's why I think I will manage my studies and find a job. But what job? I have always wanted to be an English teacher. And I know I will be. Of course it won't be easy, but it is my vocation.

I don't know where I will live, because I can be recruited anywhere in France but I hope I will live in a place where I will breathe pure air.

I don't think I will be married. I hope to live with somebody who is reliable and uncomplicated, who has the same interests. I see no point in getting married as we never know what tomorrow holds…

Though I don't want to marry, I do want children. But that’s not something I want to calculate in advance, it depends on so many things.

I think I will have the same hobbies as today: literature and travel. I hope I will be able to afford to travel the world; I want to see new horizons, meet new people, and learn about different cultures. I think it will be a marvelous experience that will bring me a lot.

Now you know about me a little better you can imagine more easily my life in 20 years. But only the future will tell what I will really be like aged 38.

When I get older... (click on this title!)

Cams, "morphed" into a 30-year-old!

In ten years' time, I'll just have finished journalism school. Maybe I'll be preparing the coffee for old journalists who will probably prefer to look at my legs rather than my articles! Ten years of studies to end up being the coffee girl, but, hey!, I won't be desperate. I know that it takes time to climb the different steps of the career ladder...

I'll live in a darling little flat in Paris. I'll probably be single because I will be as I am now: I cannot stand stupidity and no one will be as strong-willed as me. I hope that in ten years I will not have abandonned my ideals just to be liked by someone or to succeed faster. Because, let's face it, you succeed faster when you're a doctor's daughter rather than the daughter of a worker. I hope society will have evolved somewhat though. But I think ten years is not enough for such a change, equal opportunities will not be for tomorrow. But we have to try to change things because if we are fatalistic and without a clear will to change what isn't fair, things will never change.

Next September I'll be doing 'hypokhâgne', hard at work, and alone without the help of my mother. Life will be so difficult for her. How will she cope without screaming at me all the time?! I am afraid for my father too... And for myself, even If I'm always saying to them : "Leave me alone!" and "I wish I was gone already!", I know that it'll be difficult to live without my parents.

In ten years one thing will be pretty cool: horses will became our new cars, because no one will have found an idea to replace petrol. The new place to be will be the Arctic Ocean. We will be able to go for a cruise on this peaceful ocean, to watch as the icebergs melt...