When you are younger and you start anything new for the first time, you walk into the room and think to yourself, 'What are they going to think of me?' When you get older, you walk into that same room and think, 'What am I going to think of them?'
This was something my mum said in a recent conversation. It got me thinking of how we see ourselves when we are younger compared with when we are older and more experienced in life. Do we feel as old as we look?
I was at work the other day and I went to put my lunch in the fridge, and as I reached for the handle, I thought, who's hand is that? When did my hands become so old looking?
It also sparked a conversation which I think about a lot... Just how old do we feel? Have a think now, how old do you feel? I am 39 and on the inside, I feel like I am about 18 years old.
Yet I am married, have 2 children, a job that I love, a big mortage and responsibilites that go along with all of these.
I remember as a child thinking, wow, mum and dad know everything! Now I am a parent, I think, I don't really know what I'm doing, just muddling along and trying as best I can to get through any situation life throws at me.
When I was a child, I stayed a child for longer. I think this is because my brother is seven years younger than me and I always played with him and his toys. My husband thinks I sometimes still act like a child when I'm sitting watching a kids film, when the kids aren't interested in watching it!
I decided to ask my mum, to see, at the age of 58, just how old she feels...
Her reply was 'I feel about 25 years old'. I've never really thought about it. Mum thought the same about her parents, they were invincible and they knew everything!
I once remember asking my 82 year old grandma just how old she felt inside and her reply was 'I don't recognise the person I see in the mirror, that's not how I feel inside'.
My grandma has, in the past, been a little bit offended when someone once give up their seat for her on the bus. Thinking, why is this person giving up their seat for me when I don't feel old!
I was always taught as a child to respect my elders and if I was sat on a bus, and I saw an older person standing, I would offer them my seat. But what I see of that person, isn't maybe how they feel. Of course we are all different, and I will continue to get up so someone can have my seat. But it's really interesting.
At what point in our lives does our brain stop ageing?
So do we ever feel like a grown up? I guess not!
I'd love to know how old you feel on the inside, please leave a comment below.