Who we are as we get older.

[dayhiker]

We all know I'm sure that God has created a great variety of personalities in people.

Now do you think that as we get older the differences in people(as in the general population) in the character, in their behaviour, in who they are gets wider.

Seems to me that teens are very focused in being like each other. While not one homogenous group. They form clicks that we stereo type as jocks, nerds, cosmo, goths, druggies etc. They seem to mimic each other within their groups. But as we get older we seem to stop most of that and express individual ourselves more, which as we think and experience life seems to get broader if for no other reason than we have opinions about many more topics than they we did when we were young.

What are your thoughts.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

What you said is about right. Teens have that awkward stage of wanting to be accepted by everyone so the mimic the common categories of people. But as you said as we get older we tend to express our own individualism and mature.

Luckily I never really bent to peer pressure so I was myself and never really tried to be anyone else. Which left my childhood rather empty of friends. Of course being in the hospital all the time also meant no friends too. >.> However I have to say there are some people who do never leave that stage of mimicking others.

My uncle who was a hothead that cared about his looks and sleeping with woman has not changed and hes now in his late 40s. Sadly as we get older, if we don't mature we tend to stay as we were as teens.

 

[Willie T]

"When I was a child, I thought as a child.........." It's in the Bible for a reason.

 

[blackribbon]

I think on average that most people start to become themselves in their mid-thirties. It is when you start to have more confidence in who you are...and not need peer approval so much. I also think it is when the "idealist" side of many people finally starts becoming more realistic...

 

[Doctor Strangelove]

What you said is about right. Teens have that awkward stage of wanting to be accepted by everyone so the mimic the common categories of people. But as you said as we get older we tend to express our own individualism and mature.

Luckily I never really bent to peer pressure so I was myself and never really tried to be anyone else. Which left my childhood rather empty of friends. Of course being in the hospital all the time also meant no friends too. >.> However I have to say there are some people who do never leave that stage of mimicking others.

My uncle who was a hothead that cared about his looks and sleeping with woman has not changed and hes now in his late 40s. Sadly as we get older, if we don't mature we tend to stay as we were as teens.

In some ways, I think I was born old and in other ways, I was immature. I think things were coming together well when I was around 30 but a lot of things happened that were setbacks and difficulties and I spent a lot of years as a burned out, negative person. I was a high-strung, impatient person when I was young, and maybe this gave me the energy to get through some difficult years. I really didn't mellow out a little and lose a lot of the negativity until well into my forties.

 

[dayhiker]

I think this also plays into finding someone at out mature age. We have limited success finding people by groups as we did when we were young, now we have to find an individual.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

My opinion is that in your teens, everyone wants to be liked and popular. Of course we all aren't but it seems what most teens strive for.

Your twenties, IMO, are for figuring out WHO you are, and WHAT you want to do with your life.

Again, IMO, you don't become a man...(or woman) until you are at least 30 (Jesus didn't go out to minister until he was 30).

I used to tell my husband, that you don't even become a man until you are 30 (he was 30 when we met ).

 

[Forge3]

The new man in me wrestles with the old man. I have lately found myself having an immediate response to events and situations that are not always kind and even arrogant (Old man) but now I am always given pause before I speak it. And in that three second reflection I always find the more loving answer and that is what I speak. If anything that is the fruit of 30 years of meditation and more so the grace of God. Then and only then is silvery hair upon my head an honor as I grow older.

 

[CounselorForChrist]

I say its why many marriage don't work. At 18 we think we know what we want in life, so often we rush to get married. Then we realize we are still in the process of changing. Its why I notice marriages tend to last long if someone looks for love after 25 or even 30. Because at that point you really know what you want.

 

[blackribbon]

I think there is some wisdom in getting married really young because you grow together.

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. Prov 5:18

However, it is important that you choose someone who is compatible (probably the real role of arranged marriages). It might solve some of the sex issues if a woman didn't have to say "no" so long and a guy didn't have to wait.

 

[renewed21]

We all know I'm sure that God has created a great variety of personalities in people.

Now do you think that as we get older the differences in people(as in the general population) in the character, in their behaviour, in who they are gets wider.

Seems to me that teens are very focused in being like each other. While not one homogenous group. They form clicks that we stereo type as jocks, nerds, cosmo, goths, druggies etc. They seem to mimic each other within their groups. But as we get older we seem to stop most of that and express individual ourselves more, which as we think and experience life seems to get broader if for no other reason than we have opinions about many more topics than they we did when we were young.

What are your thoughts.

agreed

 

[eckhart]

"When I was a child, I thought as a child.........." It's in the Bible for a reason.

The new man in me wrestles with the old man. I have lately found myself having an immediate response to events and situations that are not always kind and even arrogant (Old man) but now I am always given pause before I speak it. And in that three second reflection I always find the more loving answer and that is what I speak. If anything that is the fruit of 30 years of meditation and more so the grace of God. Then and only then is silvery hair upon my head an honor as I grow older.

I believe real maturity in spiritual growth and faith is from prayer and study. I also think that it is an upbringing, my parents raised me old, l was born old, they talked to me as an adult and never "down" to me in that child like voice, I was told about the world, environment, and Christianity. What you are identifying in this thread is what the world does to teens as they grow up, it pivots on the person and their relation with Christ.
And it is also part of reaping and sowing. What are we expecting to reap and harvest when we grow ?

 

[blackribbon]

I find that who I am is more shaped by the loses in my life...major moves, parents' divorce, broken relationships of all sorts, and my husband's death. Losing my husband also involved losing big pieces of "me" since in many aspects "two became one". I sometimes explain it like when you have two christmas tree lights tangled together...they are two different strings but you can't usually tell where one starts and the other ends.

Also as I move thorough life's phases, I change...from teen to single adult to married adult to widowed adult...moving toward retired adult....

I'd say I'm still a work in progress...where past events are refining the woman I am becoming.

 

[redblue22]

I must be just a kid lying about his age again. (hey, novel idea!) I figure if God gives me these years, 40-60 must be like the best coming up. I'm excited about it. I just take in a deep happy breath and I just look forward to it all. And you know, there have been a lot of nay-sayers. I didn't listen to onie of them or anyone else telling me how to live my life. And you know what? IT WORKED! Turns out I was right. I did it my way. well, God's way.