It'd be more than fair to say that, yes, I have changed in the near 8 years since I first joined at the oh-so tender age of 17 (will turn 25 in less than 3 weeks. Ye gods, that's frightening once I actually stop and think about it).
There are times when I stumble across some of my earilest posts and think 'Was that really me?' while cringing hard enough to give myself a migraine. Most of my eariler posts, in a nutshell, were largely a result of youthful ignorance (with a dash of arrogance) and simply not knowing any better. More than once, I was (politely) humbled/called out for erroneous posts or plain falsehoods that I was pushing with all the misplaced confidence that I was 101% correct. Most of the time, I was too embarassed (or ignorant, arrogant etc) to even admit I was wrong and issue a correction/retraction.
Those, coupled with general life experience, transformed me from a largely ignorant youth to a much wiser young adult who knows his terminus in life and not to unnecessarily punch above it (in terms of phyiscal capabilites, mental capacity and the breadth of my knowledge). Further to the latter point, I'm now more willing to learn and expand my horizons in regards to my knowledge when such opportunities present themselves than I was back when I was 17. After all, isn't that how one learns and advances oneself?
Deviating slightly here. Pre-2020, 2017 in particular put me through the emotional ringer. I dare-say it made me more cynical, sardonic and hardened than I ever had been previously, more as a defense mechanism more than anything else. But, I of course know not to let said traits manifest themselves in my posts if I'm having a off day and someone sharply replies to a post. I stop, take a deep breath, and, if I can't come to a amicable agreement with the responder, move on. It honestly ain't worth the expended energy and boiled blood; life is far too short to be wasted on such trival grievances.
With all of this in mind, I am still a bit wary about expressing my opinions/views etc. in fear of being raked over the coals (pun most certainly intended). Irrational fears come home to roost? Maybe so, but I suppose, deep down, that's just who I am.
And lastly, one thing that has most certainly changed is my grammatical skillset. Safe to say, it has come in leaps and bounds since June 2013. I do still trip up on occasion, but compared to nearly 8 years ago, it's a world removed. And yes, I know this is a slightly odd thing to take a victory lap for, but given how low my self-confidence in this regard often is, I feel that if it helps boost said self-confidence even for a brief moment, it's tolerable.
