Why we never grow old

Today I want to broach the subject of why we never grow old.
"But that's rubbish Collywobs!  Of course we grow old."
Well, we do, but also we don't.

Our bodies age, sure - but tell me, what age are you in your head?  I bet you are somewhere between a late teenager and about 30.  My physical age is 53, but I still feel 30 ish.  I dream I can run and climb and parkour like I could when I was that age, and my physical appearance in my dreams is of that age.

I never dream that I am grey haired, over-weight and getting on in years.  That is only my physical body.
So while, biologically, my system is deteriorating, mentally I am a youth.

I know there are some pretty nasty illnesses out there that can rob us of this faculty, and I hope that one day we find a cure for them - because I believe nothing robs us of our dignity more, than losing our identity, memory and sense of self.  But as we age, I find it fascinating that our mental age never really changes beyond the age of 30 ish.  Why is that?

Science would say that we develop, mentally, in stages of 7 years - that the first 7 years we develop motor skills, speech and reasoning and so on.  From 7 to 14 we develop social skills, a sense of our own identity, and an idea of who we want to be.

From 14 to 21 we start to wonder where we fit in with the world, what do we want to do with our lives?  What career?  We discover the rest of the world and sometimes want to explore it.  We develop our sense of sexuality and understand our developing emotions.  And 21 to 28?  Well, by the time we get to 28, hopefully we're about where we want to be, with the person we want to be with, doing what we think we were born to do.

Now I know this is all very general and loose and glib, but I think once we reach this stage, our mind stops "growing".  That's not to say we don't develop our cognitive skills any more, or improve at all - but I think our mental clock that ticks our life away stops about then - it's almost like we've accelerated from nought to 28, and then we cruise.  I don't think we age (mentally) from then on.

So why is that?  I think it's a survival mechanism - similar to pushing through pain and not giving up.  If we allow ourselves to start dwelling on getting old, I think we would start expecting to feel old, and with that would come a sense of dread - Old Father Time and the Grim Reaper checking their schedule to pencil you in.  Instead, I think we remain young in our heads to keep us believing in a form of immortality, extending our own life expectancy, warding off the onset of old age. 

What do you think?