Originally Posted by
datlas
This is a 50+ question but zero cycling content, I hope that's ok here. If a transgression ok to move to "Foo."
I am 60, soon to be 61, and I noticed JUST IN THE PAST YEAR that when I look at myself in the mirror, I think I look ok and even maybe "youthful" but when I see pictures others have taken of me I look REALLY OLD.
I am pretty sure this is a new thing in the past year.
Comments? Maybe it's just a normal part of aging, but I don't like it. Unclear if this is a common occurrence or just my quirk.
It's your brain at work.
Trust me on this... today's my 77th birthday, I know
exactly what it is you're bringing to the Forum here.
Freud is frequently discredited a lot these days, but he was onto something with his
Id, Ego, Superego theories.
Essentially this breaks down to: We are who we
think we are, while at the same time we are who
we are to the people around us, but in
every instance we are
who we are in reality.
One of the differences between the first two states has our mental image of ourselves as being different than how others perceive us.
I know I certainly don't
feel like I'm 77. OTOH my body often tells me I'm not 40 anymore.
I can barely remember being 25 save when the cohort of teen part-timers are around at work. They're mostly under 20, memories of mine from that era are truly faint.
Neither mirrors nor photography depict who we are
as we choose to perceive ourselves, just as the colors we perceive are the work of our eye + brain 'organ' interpreting the wavelengths of visible radiation as colors instead of simply vibrations of energy.
I'll post this before reading what others have posted in reply to your topic. I reserve the right to come back and edit should I feel the need to do so.