As we journey through life, our perspectives inevitably shift. What once seemed tolerable—even exciting—gradually becomes something we actively avoid. The mind, ever-evolving with experience, begins to prioritize peace over chaos and substance over superficiality. Here are eight things your mind will naturally start to reject as you mature, but be warned, that may not always be what’s for the best.
1. Anything that disturbs your comfort zone.
After a while, you start finding the things that work for you. You settle into habits that make the most sense for your life and bring you comfort. Naturally, you won’t want to disturb that comfort. As you get older and build your life around you, you will find that it’s harder and harder to want to risk your comfort. After all, you spend so long building it, why would you want to break it?
You wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Research consistently shows that engaging in novel activities improves memory function in old age. New situations and experiences are also opportunities for new connections, which is crucial for keeping loneliness at bay in older age.
2. Constant interruptions.
Peace of mind is the most valuable trait you can develop for yourself. The world is a loud, chaotic place with constant intrusions and interruptions. The lack of peace gets old after a while, particularly when you’ve been dealing with it for a long time. Plus, the ability to quietly focus counts for a lot. It’s so much easier to accomplish the important things when you’re not interrupted.
3. Worrying about what other people think of you.
In your younger years, you may waste your time worrying about what other people think about you. As you get older, specifically around age 46, according to a recent study, you find out that most people aren’t really thinking about you at all. Even if they do, you start to wonder, “Does their opinion even matter?” In most cases, you’ll find that their opinion doesn’t matter at all, so you stop caring about it.
4. Late nights and wasted time.
Time is precious. That becomes more and more apparent as you get older. As the days, weeks, and years tick by, you realize that you only have so much time left. You find that you don’t want to waste it so much because you just can’t get more of it.
Late nights are nice once in a while, but then you have to play catch-up the following day. Plus, being exhausted is not a great way to start a day. The party lifestyle is just one of many things you stop giving a damn about when you hit midlife and beyond.
5. Spontaneity.
Spontaneity becomes trickier as you get older. Generally, the more time passes, the more responsibilities and commitments you have to handle. You can’t just spontaneously pick up and do something if you have a job, kids, pets, or whatever other responsibilities you have on your plate.
However, as easy as it might be to reject spontaneity in favor of the comfort zone we talked about earlier, it isn’t something you should let yourself lose. According to Time Magazine, there are many mental health benefits from spontaneity, even as a busy adult.
6. Grudges and pettiness.
Tempers can take a long while to cool when a wrong is committed. Unfortunately, not everyone is mature enough to accept and apologize for a wrong they committed. As more time passes, you come to realize that there are a lot of people who just don’t care about the harm they cause.
You can hold a grudge all your life for absolutely nothing. It does nothing but bring you misery because the other person just doesn’t care. The experience that comes with age lets you see that it’s you who suffers most from holding a grudge and that it’s time to let it go.
7. Constant negativity.
Who wants to spend their time drowning in negativity and unhappiness? No one! Happiness is something you cultivate from within by creating a place of peace and harmony. External things are fine, they can provide some fun and happiness for a little while. But at some point, you have to decide to prioritize your peace and happiness by leaving the negativity behind.
This might mean you have less time for negative people and those who are emotionally draining. You may even choose to cut people out of your life for good. You’ve spent your life putting up with people and situations that negatively impact you, and you’re not prepared to tolerate those things any longer.
8. Overstimulation.
Overstimulation can be a problem as you get older. Things can seem louder and more overwhelming than they used to be. Granted, that’s not true for everyone. But, for some, particularly those who are autistic, ADHD, or both (AuDHD), sensory overwhelm can really ramp up in the later years, so they want to avoid loud noises and big crowds just because it can be too much. It’s stressful, which can be hard to deal with if you’re already overloaded with too many things.
