Old and Young Mindset

Velvet made a very interesting observation on her blog recently about old and young mindsets. I’d like to expand on it a bit.

She said her husband thanked her for introducing him to new things and keeping him in a younger mindset. She went on to say that many of her peers are set in their ways and “many of them have sort of frozen themselves in the era that they came of age. Why is that?”

I think I know why, or at least part of why.

Several friends and acquaintances, especially the fifty-somethings, seem stuck where they were at the dawn of adulthood. They like the same music and hate the new stuff. They like doing things like they’ve always done them and reject the thought that a new way could be better. They reached many conclusions about life in their twenties and believe that what they knew at that point is all they need to know. It was good enough then so it must be good enough now too. They have little interest in trying new things and often struggle to adapt to changes, regardless of the potential positive value of those changes.

The period just before coming of age is a volatile and memorable time of life and when we survive it, we ultimately feel invincible and bulletproof. Later on, when life throws us its inevitable curves, we seek security in that time when we thought we knew it all.

The paradox is that we look back at a time of constant change in our lives as something solid and secure, forgetting that it was neither. To those who are frozen, I say hit the defrost button.

Velvet also asks, “Shouldn't life continue to be an adventure of discovery?”

My answer is yes! We should embrace many of the changes we face as well as the challenge of change. At the very least we should accept the possibility that change can be good. We should give change a fair shake, even if we ultimately decide to stay the course. In some ways an adventure of discovery can be scary, but it can also feel a lot like our coming of age time; a time when we sought change and believed that anything was possible.

That was a great, exhilarating feeling then; why not feel it now? It’s a matter of mindset.