A good portion of my teenage years were filled with sitting in my room watching documentaries, hanging out with my parents, or rejecting invitations to go out because I didn’t really want to. I always thought it was because I was an introvert, but I’m actually quite the opposite. I enjoy having fun, but I don’t enjoy having fun the way that it is had nowadays. I never cared to go out and party and keep up with all the newest trends as a teenager; instead, I always found more excitement in finding a new mountain to hike or town to wander through. Slowly but surely, the more people brought it up, I realized that it’s not me being an “introvert” that made me not want to engage in the same behaviors and activities as my peers, but instead my being an old soul. Here are ways to know you might be one too:

1. You don’t feel like you fit in with your generation.

2. You are always told that you are mature for your age and wise beyond your years.

3. You give great advice.

4. You want everything to have meaning and value the simple things.

5. You are very giving.

6. You’ve been seen as very responsible from a young age.

7. You value meaningful relationships.

8. You are more comfortable around people older than you.

9. You have an undying desire to constantly learn.

10. You were over your party phase before it really even began.

11. You can’t wait to grow up and feel like you are actually surrounded by like-minded people.

Don’t get me wrong: I love being young, but it can get old really fast. I can only talk about boys, gossip and care about how others perceive me so much until I really just don’t care anymore. I don’t care to talk about any of those things. There is so much more to life than what young people nowadays consider to be important. There is so much to be learned and more relevant things to be discussed besides the terrible outfit a girl in class wore the other day. I always thought that I was weird never wanting to be a part of the stereotype and partaking in activities with the “cool” kids, but it never had anything to do with weirdness and I never thought of myself as any better than them. Some of us love that lifestyle, and some of us are just old souls.