When we were young, we couldn't wait to grow up so we could finally do adult things.
Let's just admit how wrong we were for saying that.
Aging isn't just about what you see in the mirror – there's a lot more going on inside.
Today we're listing 10 things that happen as you age. Let's see just how much you can relate to these.
Let's take a look at the list:
- You Stop Dealing With Other People's Nonsense
- You Care Less About What Other People Think
- You Lose Your Hair…FAST
- You Start To See Yourself In Others
- You Adopt A Set Of Core Values
- Life Events Become More Meaningful
- You React Better To Stress
- You Finally Become A Morning Person
- Time Starts Flying By
- You Become Happier
1. You Stop Dealing With Other People's Nonsense
Robin Dunbar, a British anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist, conducted a study published in the 2016 Journal Social Networks.
By analyzing participants' call logs, he determined that the average person only has regular contact with around 5 people.
It's no surprise because, as you grow older, you adopt more responsibility and thus have less time.
Some of the biggest desires of young people include having lots of friends and being liked by everyone.
With age you start to realize that maintaining all these connections wastes a lot of your time.
After all, not everyone you know wants to be your friend, and you yourself don't like everyone you know.
As you have less time, you can no longer afford to waste it on people who impact you in a negative way.
With this in mind, the next thing should come as no surprise.
2. You Care Less About What Other People Think
We know that our social circle – at least the part we interact with – gets smaller with age, so we have less room for outside opinions.
As we grow older, the few connections we do maintain with close friends and family are all the support we need. There are plenty of opinions to go around.
The insight that comes from people that matter to us is more important. We no longer waste time on gossip and rumors, in fact, we avoid them for the trouble they've caused.
All this is a major stress release, as we can be sure the things we do hear – both positive and negative – come from the heart of people who only want the best for us.
You'll never make it if you spend your time questioning yourself on what others will think of you.
Throughout life, we're going to hear all sorts of things about ourselves and those around us. Some of it turns out to be true, but everything else becomes laughable.
Seriously, we learn to laugh at the negative things we hear about us – that would shock us as kids or young adults.
We also learn to appreciate those that give constructive criticism, which helps open our eyes on things we need to work on.
3. You Lose Your Hair – FAST
One of the biggest fears most men face is seeing their hair start to fall off, but what really surprises them is just how quickly it happens.
According to the American Hair Loss Association, 2 out of 3 men will experience some form of male pattern baldness by the age of 35.
The causes include a variety of things: genetics, chemicals from hair products, stress and unhealthy eating patterns are just some of the well-known ones.
We have an article dedicated to the top 10 of the most common causes of hair loss, as well as tips to overcome them.
Most people search for cures when it's already too late, and companies like Keeps realized this.
So instead they looked at the problem from another angle and focused on prevention.
4. You Start To See Yourself In Others
When you were young, you had big dreams for when you grew up.
Most people want to leave an impact on this world in one way or another. This is why there are so many aspiring artists and sports players.
Others want to change the planet – many hope to end up in the history books.
Life teaches us that not everyone is destined to achieve worldwide recognition. But that doesn't mean their lives aren't impactful.
As you grow older, the relationships you maintain in life become more meaningful. It's no secret that we tend to act, talk and think like those who surround us, but we're not just sponges soaking everything up.
The people around us become mirrors of ourselves.
The good we say and do can inspire others to do the same, and we find that our friends, family and especially younger generations are inspired by us.
Unfortunately, we're only human and make mistakes as well. Seeing people make the same mistakes we did, opens our eyes to the impact that we can have on others.
5. You Adopt A Set Of Core Values
We've all heard the saying “You become wiser as you age”.
Most people believe it's true, and psychology has pointed out good reasons why that is is the case.
As we grow older, the life lessons we've learned pile up. By now we have vast experience in all sorts of situations, and it feels like nothing can surprise us anymore.
All of this – the good and the bad – leads us to believe we understand what makes the world go around.
Being this – dare I say – arrogant about the things we know leads us to adopt core principles we live by. This is why people tend to be more conservative as they age.
But this is by no means a bad thing, having a set of values or rules we live by – assuming they benefit us while not hurting others – is a good way to approach life.
6. Life Events Become More Meaningful
According to Psychology Today, adults report more emotional stability than younger people.
Adults pay more attention to the good, less attention to the bad, and recover more easily from negative feelings.
This may lead people to believe that you get less emotional overall as you age, but that's actually not the case.
As we age, the responsibilities we adopt narrow our focus and make us more invested in the things around us.
Even though adults react emotionally on fewer occasions than young people, their emotions are more powerful.
This is because older generations have had more life experience which has made them more resilient.
On the brighter side, the sense of achievement and pride in our accomplishments increases as well.
Since we, as responsible adults, play a role in our people's lives, we tend to view the success and failure of those around us as our own.
In other words, we develop higher levels of empathy as well.
7. You React Better To Stress
We already talked about how you stop caring as much as you get older. Thankfully, this applies to stress as well.
Although there are many definitions of stress, people experience it in different ways.
Stress is a common reaction when feeling forced to do things – like make tough decisions or changing the way we do things.
Uncertainty about our results can leave us feeling uneasy. This is why work-related stress is so common amongst adults.
As you age, you go through many of the same life scenarios over and over again. With experience, the stress of “Can I do this?” becomes “No problem, I've done it so many times”.
The confidence that we can pull through – no matter what we're doing – is what releases us from everyday stress.
This is why experience is so valuable in life. It teaches us how to move forward where many decide to stop.
8. You Finally Become A Morning Person
Still wondering how your mom was able to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning, while you barely got up to get to school at 9 a.m.?
Believe it or not, it's not just her. Adults wake up earlier in general and there are both medical and social reasons for it.
There's a reason why “9 to 5” is a term used to explain the average person's work schedule.
This basically means, whether you were a morning person or not when you were younger, the majority of the world wakes up and starts their day early.
Over time, the body starts to recognize a pattern in sleep time and adjusts accordingly – most people realize this.
This is how you get the feeling of naturally waking up at the same time every day, regardless of when you went to sleep.
The amount of sleep you get also goes down as you age, but it's not as bad as it may sound.
Simply put, as you age you expend less energy, and your body takes less time to recover during sleep.
That's why it's not unusual for the elderly to sleep for 6 hours, which they often compensate for by taking a nap during the day.
9. Time Starts Flying By
When you're young, all you think about is “when is this going to end so I can finally play, socialize and enjoy my free time?”
School never seems to end and the weekend is far away. Now, all you can think of is deadlines.
When you're young, you have a narrow view of the world. You interact with 90% of your social circle on a daily basis.
You likely lived with your parents and see them every day. Your friends were all in the same school and neighborhood as you.
But as you grow older and your connections begin to scatter around, you realize just how precious your time is.
The average person goes from living with their parents to seeing them only a couple of times a year once as soon as they move out.
You start having to schedule meetings with friends, sometimes days or weeks in advance, as life takes you on different paths and destinations.
Our social circle, which was once spread a just few streets wide, is now scattered – sometimes even globally.
Luckily for us, social media and the internet helps us keep up with the people in our lives, but it also serves as a reminder of how fast time can pass and how much can change.
10. You Become Happier
The San Diego School of Medicine at the University of California did a comprehensive study of 1,006 people.
They found that happiness levels start to go down after the age of 7, but rises back up again as you approach your 70s.
You learn to appreciate the little things in life that are positive, while – as we already mentioned – the negatives impact you less.
For most people, they find a place in their community, see their impact in it, and start to feel a sense of belonging.
As you age, you start to love yourself for who you are and appreciate how far you've come in life.
The responsibilities they adopt are more meaningful, both for one's self and others around them.
We spend the majority of our lives chasing things that we think are going to bring us happiness.
It is only when we realize that we might never get many of those things, that we start to appreciate life for what it gave us.
As you age, you'll realize it's not as bad as people make it out to be. After all, it's just part of life.
Growing up does not mean you have to give up your youth – but keep these 10 things in mind so you don't get surprised along the way.
