... in a way adults are not, I suppose. Begs the question, when do you go from being a kid to being an adult and can we postpone this transition, and should we?
I recently realized that I had failed to uphold the promise I made to teenage me to never become adult. I consider it a failure because of my view that most adults transition way, way too early and therefor have minds that are too narrow for comfort.
Unfortunately, transitioning back to "kid state of mind" seems impossible.
Im now 30 and still feel a lot less adult than I thought being adult would be.
The difference is I’ve learned how to handle various adult tasks that did not interest me before. Bureaucracy, taxes, investment, insurances etc.
But I also still watch the shit out of TV, love video games and other various things I loved as a kid. I’ve just learned to be passionate about even more things than I was, and love them even more.
There have been some changes in my tastes but they’ve been fairly rare by comparison. Most changes came from learning and maturing.
For what it’s worth though I don’t think most people are like this. All in all, I’ve found this to be the minority case.
At 30 you are still a young adult. I bet you are still playing those video games at 50, because that is a cultural and generational thing rather than an age related thing, but that the mindset around the activity would have changed slightly. Call it a middle aged mindset, if you will. Middle age adult is a different phase of life than young adult.
> Unfortunately, transitioning back to "kid state of mind" seems impossible.
I don't think it's impossible, though it certainly requires practice and deliberate cultivation in most adults.
Besides the advantages to learning new things, I think it's also a beautiful way to look at the world: to see everything as if for the first time, your mind filled with wonder, curiosity, eagerness to explore.
Practically, I have found this attitude to also lead to more rewarding social interactions. When someone explains something to me that (I think) I already know, or have some experience with, my mind doesn't jump to "heard that before" and shut off, but I can remain engaged and interested in the conversation, letting my prior knowledge just be there in the background.
It depends how long you intend to live. If you live as long as humans did while evolving, you should stop learning when it is natural to. However, if you plan to live past your 40's, it would be a worthwhile investment to keep learning longer.
In addition, we live in a more rapidly changing world than our evolutionary ancestors did, which makes necessary to continue learning throughout our adult lives. e.g. I'll probably have to learn new JavaScript frameworks until the day I retire
... in a way adults are not, I suppose. Begs the question, when do you go from being a kid to being an adult and can we postpone this transition, and should we?
I recently realized that I had failed to uphold the promise I made to teenage me to never become adult. I consider it a failure because of my view that most adults transition way, way too early and therefor have minds that are too narrow for comfort.
Unfortunately, transitioning back to "kid state of mind" seems impossible.