12 Signs You're An Old Soul

I don't know how people think souls "age," but I'm inclined to think it's something to do with the whole "more life in your years than years in your life" thing. Some people have just been through more. Some people are just more sensitive. For whatever reason, some people just process more (and mature faster) than others. (I'm also partial to my own spiritual belief that we live more than one life, hence how some kids are "old souls," but hey, just me.)

Whichever way you look at it, being an "old soul" is a widely-enough accepted idea that there's obviously something to it: it speaks to the people who are young in body but not at heart. To the people who care about love and beauty and having a quiet, meaningful life. It's the counter-culture (if you could call it that?) to the idea that your youth is for partying and being reckless. Simply, not everybody is like that, and because the idea that they are (or should be) is so pervasive, it seems like a very liberating stance to say "I'm not into this not because I'm uncool or broken, but because that's just not who I am."

I spent my whole life feeling like a weird outsider because I was never interested in what my peers were (I still don't like bars, I will admit to the world at this juncture). But I'm going to argue that there's a kind of magic and meaningfulness in embracing your "soul age" even if it's not necessarily the most common. Here, 12 ways to know you're an "old soul" (and why it's awesome to embrace it if you are.)

You Savor The Quiet Moments In Life

You most enjoy reading, handwritten journals, candle-lit dinners with friends, wearing your favorite cotton shirt. It's the simple, little things that make you happiest, and that you try to fill your life with the most.

You're Highly Introspective

You don't know anything other than self-growth and improvement. You're constantly evaluating your feelings, trying to understand the human condition more and more and push yourself to be better.

You're A "Healer"

Even if you don't do "healing" work by trade (think: healthcare, psychiatry) you are the person everyone turns to when they're having a problem. People just tend to spill their lives to you, and the advice you give tends to be well-received.

You Want To Understand The Root Or Purpose Of Everything

You don't accept things on the surface, you deeply desire to understand them and their origins. This makes you prime for enjoying history, or art, or English, or on a more existential level, to be constantly meditating on why we're here, and for what purpose.

You Have A Strange Love For Other Time Periods, Or Things In Them

You have almost this nostalgia for other times or countries or cultures... you think of them fondly, and often say you were "born in the wrong decade."

For As Connected You Feel To Yourself, You Sometimes Feel Disconnected From The World Around You

You don't think the way most people do, and you certainly don't value what most people do, either. It sometimes feels like you just don't belong, and it's usually from this feeling that a lot of self-connection and inner-exploration grows.

You're Very Spiritual

Even if you don't identify with a particular religion or dogma, your focus and value is always on the immaterial: how you think, what you feel, etc., as opposed to what is. You see reality as a movable thing dependent on how you are. Not the other way around.

You Love Love

Growing up you were a hopeless romantic, always dreaming of the day you'd find The One. It's because of this that you've probably experienced a lot of heartbreak (and therefore, a lot of personal growth as well).

You've Been Through A Lot

You were always hyper-sensitive and overly-analytical, so there's no way you were getting through adolescence unscathed. It's not so much what happened, just that you took it all very seriously. In the end, it was for the best, but at the time, it was very difficult.

You're A Homebody

You enjoy a nice night out on the town, but at the end of the day, having a home in which you feel comfortable and happy is of the upmost importance to you. You love to spend time in your cozy little that just feels like "yours."

You're An Optimist

You probably won't ever not see the world through rose-colored glasses, and you wouldn't have it any other way.

You're Extremely Intuitive

You just "know" things, and you always have. You know the right answers, how other people are feeling, what we're all really doing here in an existential sense. There's just this kind of knowledge and wisdom that you seem to have, without really developing it from anywhere (that you're conscious of!).

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