Do we actually grow up?

[kvnchrist]

I've watched people for a long time and seeing how they, many times react to things and seeing how they react to things they are passionate about, I was really wondering if we actually grow up inside or have we just figured out how to suppress the child within us.

I've always thought that we, deep down at our core are still the innocent little child we were born as. This child is the one that still sees the world in all it's wonder and majesty. The one that flashes with anger, sometimes far more quickly than the adult inside us can repress before we make utter fools of ourselves.

This is the same spirit that makes us so giddy when it comes to discussing things we are passionate about like a car for instance, that we adore. It's also the supreme ruler of our hearts, when it comes to expressing the love we have and the romantic views we have that reality, so many times dashes to bits in front of our eye. It also holds sway with the most base emotions that we possess as a human being.

Is this person inside us who we really are after we strip away the veneer of sophistication that adults have cloaked themselves in to better relate to the issues of the day?

[Quetzlsacatanango]

I think they are the same thing.

I like to call it 'scar tissue on my personality'. You don't get that without experience.

Hormones change at different stages of your life as well, and have a ridiculous effect on things like your mood and emotional state in general.

So what you call growing up, or suppression of the inner child, for some people is just due to low - T. Not me of course :)

[WarRatsG]

I wouldn't call it suppression, more of an adaption. A child is not concerned about things like sex. A child has a much more simplistic view of morality. A child will not factor social convention when deciding what the best option may be.

 

In terms of personality, adults have just accumulated extra layers of complexity through experience.

[RGMage2]

The child will always be there, you never stop being what you were, but as you get older you become more.