Change is a personal experience. Everyone changes to some degree over their life, more so in the beginning than in the end.
This rapid change in the early years of life has always intrigued me. It feels like yesterday that I was acting in a certain way, while today I am completely different. This behavioural change occurs gradually and you don’t notice it. It feels familiar, you know it was yourself that made those behaviours, but you feel so detached from them. You feel like a completely different person, with the only relation being your memories.
It is hard to define your current personality, but easy to recall your past. Yet, that past personality isn’t you, but a less-developed image of yourself. If you keep going back, this image becomes less and less developed until you can no longer remember yourself. In the grand picture, it’s a linear change that slows down with age. Why does personality settle?
Settle is the right word because it doesn’t subtract change. It denotes a “toning down” of the self due to a possible increased self-belief through experience. That’s what makes sense to me. As you experience more and more life events you become acquainted with a variety of different scenarios, each interacting with your personality, changing it to some degree. The more experience you have the more capable you feel. This may explain why older adults have a greater grasp of who they are compared to their teenage counterparts. This may also explain why teenagers actively seek difference as they are yet to find their mould and self-belief.