old soul

(A Young Girl Reading, by Jean Honore Fragonard)

Kathy, who is a bit older than me, always teases me that actually, she's younger.  She loves going out, going to parties, and having people over.  She likes staying up late.  I, on the other hand, like to go to bed so that I'm not tired the next day.  I like to stay in, maybe have a few friends over.  Really, of course, what we're talking about is the introversion/extroversion binary -- which we happen to be toward opposite ends of.  And which we deal with, without much conflict.  But we do joke that I would not like "young Kathy," the party animal.

Today, Susan Cain over at Quiet posted this interesting piece about whether there is more to the age/introversion connection than just Kathy's teasing.  It got me thinking that maybe the reason that I'm viewed by others as old-fashioned, or just plain old for my age, is just because I'm more introverted than they are, and that we humans have a tendency toward introversion as we age. 

So, you know.  Food for thought, that's all.