How much do we change as we get older?

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Do you ever fantasize about what you will be like as an "adult"? Perhaps by 30 you will learn how to take care of plants and cook sushi rice. Maybe by 40 you will be the president or congress woman who is changing the world.

Today is my birthday, and the celebration usually comes hand-in-hand with several portions of cake, a pint of ice cream (coconut ice cream this year), and a dose of introspection. I am older than most of my college peers. I worked a few years, studied different things in Costa Rica and finally found what I really wanted when I moved to the U.S. to major in fashion communication. That being said, I don’t really feel old. I have matured and grown immensely since I was 17, but in some ways, I am still the same person.

One of my aunts, who is in her 60s, told me something similar a few months back. She said, “Your body gets old, but you don’t feel like you get old. You are still the same person.”

When we are teenagers, and even during our 20s, it’s easy to feel misunderstood. We might think older generations are a different species, but they are not. Imagine you wake up tomorrow and your body has changed. Your face is covered with wrinkles and your knees crack every time you bend down (this already happens to me). Everything seems to be different, but inside you feel the same. Your experiences might have changed your goals. Your music taste and lifestyle might be a polar opposite of what it was before. But deep inside, you are still you.

Is this good? Is it sad? I don’t know. It’s just what you think about in your late twenties when having a birthday cake sugar rush.