Aging and inner life theory. Agree or not?

About aging:

Just a comforting theory for the youngsters on this board. When you are middle aged, or old, you will be THE SAME person you always were ( maybe a little mellower, and certainly uglier, but you will probably just be a physically older version of you.)

Once, in my 20s, I was in a frame shop and I overheard two old ladies talking. They were asserting to each other how they felt the same as they always had about pretty much everything, it was only their outer shell that was different. I was glad to overhear it, because as a young person I dreaded growing old and becoming The Establishment, thinking I’d lose my gusto, or no more romance, or become dull and stodgy.. I guess that CAN happen, but it doesn’t need to.

I, for one, am exactly the same as I always was….possibly a little mellower ("don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff")….but same sense of humor, same "never meet a stranger" attitude, same likes and dislikes. Maybe slightly less of a physical risk taker. (Yea, I won’t be jumping out of a plane again, though zip lining still on the table, that sort of thing. )

Of course, if you are an a-hole, please change. Rein it in. It CAN be done. Otherwise, If you are a pretty good person, and happy within yourself, you can carry that always.

This is why on an Internet chat board, it can be hard to guess ages. Old people don’t write "old speak" Middle Agers don’t write "middle age speak" and college kids don’t write "college speak". ( Well, maybe a little. The newest slang may not catch up to an older generation until it is already out of vogue. I googled "cap" from a JD5 quote this week. I have yet to use appropriately it in a sentence, but I can if I want to! ) The physical old or young clues aren’t there…. No grey hair, or no body piercings, no wrinkles or no acne, no cursive vs lower case. We all look alike on a keyboard….and since most folks FEEL the same throughout life, we express ourselves the same as we always have.. Assumed ages of fellow posters may be wildly off., until someone remembers where they were the day Kennedy was shot, or mentions being married 50 years, or this year graduates college, or some other obvious clue setting the math gymnastics going…

Really old people, those with dementia and other age related mental conditions, can upset that apple cart. …but up to that horrific possibility…you will always be you. Possibly slightly wiser, simply because humans learn from our mistakes…and oldsters have had time to make a LOT of "learning opportunities."

Has this been your experience? Even grade school to college? Diapers to, uh, diapers? The volatility may simmer down, but is the underlying you-ness still the same?