Physical Age and Mental Age

Why do we perceive our seniors differently from our juniors? We tend to think our seniors are much more mentally matured and that they are a bit difficult to understand. On the other hand, we tend to think our juniors are mentally closer to ourselves. Have you ever thought why this happens?

Can you imagine yourself five years from now and predict what you will be doing then? It must be quite unclear and uncertain. You probably don't even know where you will be living or what you will be doing. On the other hand, do you remember yourself five years ago? I don't think it is hard to retrieve. The feeling of uncertainty of our future makes time feel longer.

The same applies to interpersonal understanding. You tend to think your senior understands things which are unfamiliar to you better, and feel your junior is easier to relate to because you can guess what's there in their mind better.

The reality is that, when you become your senior's current age, you will realize that your mentality will not have changed since your current age. Of course, the experiences you will go through might give you some wisdom and you will learn how to be a better person, but your basic mentality will not have really changed. So, the older you become, the larger the gap becomes between your physical and mental age.

Maybe life is about learning this phenomenon, and how to deal with it. This may be our theme of life!