Are you young or old?

Given a chance, we would all love to be young having the wisdom of old? But are you young or old? Some of us like to say we have young mind. Some of us are lucky enough to have been the right genetic composition which makes you look young compared to your age. But what differentiates between young or old? 

Do you feel the time flies? While approaching 40s, I started realizing the time was flying by. Before you realize, a week passes by, then a month and subsequently an year. Everyone is racing. Why is that so? At 30, our body slows down in terms of metabolic rate, reaction time and also cognitive processing speed. This gives us an impression of time going fast. 

When we are young, we like to learn new things. We also like to push the envelope a bit further in order to experience new things. When we are old, we like to do things we are comfortable and the outcome of which are already known to us. This is all because of the limited time we have.

Read what author David Levitin has to say. 

... different views of how we want to spend time are partly fueled by how much time we feel we left. When time is perceived as open-ended, the goals that become most highly prioritized are those that are preparatory, focused on gathering information, on experiencing novelty, and on expanding one's breadth of knowledge. When time is perceived as constrained, the highest priority goals will be those that can be realized in the short-term and that provide emotional meaning, such as spending time with family and friends.

This also explains why young people who are left with little time to leave suddenly starts to behave like old people.

If you want to stay young, start doing something you have not done yet. Learn a new skill. Adopt a new hobby.

Tags: Musings, Young, Old