Do You Feel You've Matured Since You Were a Teenager (19)? (emotionally, teenagers)

[elnrgby]

I am totally different from what I was at 19. First of all, I gained a tremendous amount of factual and skill-related knowledge which I didn't have then. At 19, I also had a much greater trust in nature and humanity. At 19 I had a basic feeling that some entity (God, universe, natural logic?) took care of everything always developing in the "right direction" - but, I think that was basically only a function of mom & dad at that time :-). Now I believe everything is fundamentally random, and is in fact likely to go in undesirable direction, unless you put an effort into directing events where you would prefer them to go. At 19 I also believed that people were all basically similar and therefore easy to understand - now I think people are so different from each other that it is not possible to ever truly know what any other person is like - all you know is your own picture of them (our minds are composed of trillions of different neural connections - nobody probably perceives even something as simple as blue color exactly the same way). These things make me a tremendously different person of who I was at 19. I am much more cautious now. At 59, I still like the same music as I did half a century ago, but that's about it :-). Even when I re-read the books that I read as a teenager, or see again a movie that I first saw then, I see it differently now, sometimes somewhat differently, and sometimes totally differently.

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

I'd hope so, though a lot of my personality traits are fundamentally the same and I still enjoy a lot of the same hobbies.

Dude. You "still enjoy a lot of the same hobbies"? You were 19 like ten years ago. The question was clearly aimed for a retirement-age audience.

[Mikala43]

Gosh yes, I've matured oodles since I was 19. I am not the same person at all.

[Huckleberry3911948]

I was scary stupid and knew it
Frightened kid living inside an adult body most of my life
Fear is underrated
Keeps you alive
Is that maturity?

[V8 Vega]

I have heard that marriage and the responsibilities of a family matures you, otherwise you remain a kid. I'm talking mostly about men with this.
I was married briefly a long time ago but have been single so long that it seems I never was married. And yes I'm much more mature than I was at 19 but not as much as family men.

Edit:4 posts in the last 10 minutes.

[1insider]

I know so much less at 68 than I did at 19.

[vicky3vicky]

My core morals and values have remained consistent, maybe more solidified. I have always been an activist at heart, but when younger was too shy to speak up. I have since found my voice[ literally, I had selective mutism from the ages of 7 to 15 years old, which is NOT elective] and won't shut up.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by nobodysbusiness

I don't know what "matured" means, really, but I don't think I have done it.

I am basically the same person as I was when I was 19, except more healed (and more damaged, simultaneously!), and "wiser" (I learned how to do some stuff). But basically, I am not more intelligent, or that much different. How about you?

I've matured a lot now that I'm almost 65. I don't get in nearly as many fist fights now as when I was 19.

[Jude24]

So much more open to new or different ideas that I was (now almost 69). Much more aware of what things are important and lasting. Even though I have always felt I was open to other races and beliefs, I have progressed way beyond those years. The downside of that is realizing how far you still have to go. Oh yeah, one other thing. When I was 19 I would never turn down the opportunity to smoke a joint. Now that it is legal and I could stop on my way home and buy a pack, I haven't the slightest desire.

[k7baixo]

Ask me the subject and I'll tell you if I've matured or not. It's not always clear.