People are very open-minded about new things – as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.
Charles Kettering

People are creatures of habit. From your earliest stages, you’re prodded along the way to establishing fixed patterns of behaviour, of getting into a routine. Not that the approach isn’t beneficial – it’s not that difficult to see the necessity of routine in toilet training, bedtimes, cleaning your room, etc. Good personal habits will help establish you and provides a familiar base to work from.

One of the problems of getting older is that you rely more and more on those routines. They’re familiar, comforting, trustworthy. As you grow and learn about all the hazards life can throw at you, you yearn for those familiar patterns. Some idolize them. Most will settle firmly into more and more of them as time goes on.

But a lot of times, reliance on those patterns keep us from giving new ideas a fair shot. Sometimes “it’s always been done this way” becomes less of an analytical tool and more of a defense mechanism against anything unfamiliar. You do see it in older people a lot, but it’s far from uniquely a product of age. Talk about religion, politics or any other topic that people feel strongly about and you will very quickly catch wind of people who have their minds made up, despite anything new they may learn.

Certainly the old “tried and true” approaches have value, or they wouldn’t have lasted as long. Certainly there are basic components to your character and goals that are non-negotiable. But learn to have an open mind; to give new ideas a proper evaluation without immediately passing judgement upon them. This is the mental policy that lies behind dogmaticism, fundamentalism, sexism, racism and a whole host of world-blighting emotional ailments.

At your current age, you believe quite wholeheartedly in Santa Claus. I expect at some point you will begin to see the evidence, start asking questions and eventually admit that your benefactor is not who you originally conceived him to be. That’s normal, and part of growing up. The surprising thing you will learn is the number of people who stop using that approach as they grow older. I could detail for you instantly a number of people I know who are suffering from that approach today:

  • Friends who doggedly support the political party they’ve always affiliated themselves with despite the fact that its agenda is completely out of line with my friends’ current beliefs
  • Friends shackled by a religion that they are unwilling to question, and completely unwilling to see that it doesn’t live up to the standards they hold other religions to
  • Friends stuck in low-end jobs because they can’t conceive of themselves finding a better opportunity
  • Friends living in deep debt because they assume this manner of living is the accepted norm

Don’t ever stop learning, stop evaluating what you encounter in life. Put things to the test and learn which ones stand up over time. The world changes, your life changes. If you’re not changing, you may be falling behind.

Keep an open mind.