Real transformation requires real honesty. If you want to move forward - get real with yourself. - Bryant McGill

Believing that our own personality is set in stone for a lifetime is a fairy tale.

The longest-running study of human personality recently concluded that our main character traits completely transforms as we age.

What a great opportunity!

Who do you want to be in the future?

The other me: @surfermarly smoking during a shooting a couple of years ago

Scientists prove the 'personal makeover'

As psychologists at the University of Edinburgh in UK discovered in the longest-running study ever conducted on human personality, the idea of personality as a relative constant throughout life is no longer valid.

The first study to test people’s personalities in adolescence and again in old age shows that compared to their younger selves, most people’s personalities in older adulthood are barely recognizable.

These measured six basic personality traits were the following: 

1. self-confidence
2. conscientiousness
3. perseverance
4. desire to excel
5. originality and
6. stability of moods.

It was “as if the second tests had been given to different people,” the study’s authors noted in their official statement to The Huffington Post

Over time we gradually improve our personality traits.

It's a double-edged sword

Considering that according to science our cells are replaced roughly every seven years, it starts to appear that as time goes by, we factually aren’t the person we used to be in the past.

Depending on our life's circumstances, our personal environment, professional and private challenges we face over time, our character traits are able to adapt themselves.

Now that might also logically explain that some people drift apart from their partners in relationships. While they might have a lot in common when they first meet, over time there is a probability that they self-develop into different directions.

The fact that our personality evolves into something different over time, is both a chance and a challenge.

Considering the above mentioned six traits I'd say that I personally improved in all of them during the past two decades.

That could be mostly due to the fact that I have been actively working on my self-development, trying to consciously become better at many things.

Still I'm pretty aware of the fact that my social environment has changed according to that. Not everybody is willing to walk by your side no matter into what direction you go. Only your true friendships - those who are stable enough to last a lifetime - will be part of the whole journey.

I'm glad I have found these people many many years ago.

My family and friends have a major stake in who I am today.

Growing older implies many benefits.

Many of us are afraid of becoming old since the media is great at promoting eternal youth.

But as we just learned, true wisdom is acquired over time.

By the way if you want to know how you'll physically look like once you're old, there is a smartphone application that allows you to predict that. A friend of mine thought it was a good idea to test the app in the middle of a party.

Here's how I'm apparently going to look like in a couple of years. Not bad, huh? My face tells the whole story :-)

@surfermarly transformed into her future self - wow! Looking pretty fresh, haha! If you want to try it, too, download the smartphone app: MSQRD (Masquerade)

The older we get, the more we accept ourselves and the better we know what we want in life.

In older age, people tend to become more accepting of themselves and all that goes with that. But there are large individual differences in these patterns and lots of that depends on what's going on in a person's life. - Wendy Johnson said who was part of the above mentioned research team

Who do you want to be in a couple of years?

Best, Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

PS: Don't forget that this is a troll-free zone.

Original content. Quotes found on lifehack.org and quotefancy.com.