An old soul is a person who feels older than their age reflects, that they’ve lived longer and are wise beyond their years. Someone who would say, “My soul is old. My body is young. My mind drifts in between.” Some say an old soul is simply more mature than those around them.
Old souls are open-minded, on a higher level mentally than most of their peers, and understand things sooner than most. Rather than dealing with the superficialities of mainstream society, an old soul has deeper interests.
“Old souls are usually childlike in many ways, having the playfulness and simplicity of children, while maintaining a certain world-weariness and deep insight.”
–Mateo Sol
But old souls often feel lonely because finding someone who matches wits at their level is a rarity. They are constantly fighting the ignorance of the world and don’t have many friends because they won’t dumb themselves down merely to be accepted.
I’m not necessarily speaking of an old soul in this psychological sense but rather one who resonates with the old-school ways of doing things, someone who feels trapped in the 21st century.
One who has an old soul enjoys the simple things in life: nature, herbal tea, a good book, and a full night’s rest. They prefer phone calls over texting and in-person exchanges above both. Old souls like picnics, flowers, letters, dates, and long drives for nothing. Things people call “corny” these days.
“What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can’t reread a phone call.”
–Liz Carpenter
Old souls also don’t like modern-day slang. They don’t have a squad, they have best friends. They don’t have a bae, they have a boyfriend. They treasure the significance of someone’s name, the uniqueness of handwriting, and the pleasure of someone sitting down to fill a room with live music.
Old souls believe in chivalry, romance, and love. As Phil Coulson says in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., “I have a real soft spot for that golden age. There was an elegance to things back then. Reminds me of what’s important.”
“I’m the type of girl that should’ve been born in the era of handwritten letters and chocolate and flowers, the era where holding hands was considered a big thing, when boys asked a girl’s parents for permission to take her out. The era where love was real.”
-I.S.
Old souls prefer times when they can just be, when they can follow trains of thought instead of jumping to the next responsibility.
With all the curiosities to ponder, it would not be odd to find an old soul enjoying a needlepoint project or sketchbook by an open window on a pleasant day.
Quiet moments when a bird song or cricket symphony is noticeable are the rare times when an old soul can simply think, a treasure because it is then that they can hear their conscious and gain true self-awareness.
For the Christian, it is in an old soul’s happy place that we can peacefully abide with Christ.