Old Souls Among the Young

October 2025

By Richard Fleming

Photo courtesy of Alan Jiang

Boomers and the Silent Generation are old souls. We earned this venerated status over many long decades. We weathered difficult storms, and we celebrated moments large and small. We hiked challenging mountains, and we learned and we taught. We navigated unfamiliar trails, and we captured small strands of wisdom on our journey forward. Most importantly, we offered love and we received love.

This rich web of experiences is what produces old souls.

Defining what constitutes an old soul is difficult. There is no single archetype. Old souls encompass qualities like understanding, empathy, an acceptance of uncertainty, a tempered curiosity, wisdom borne of complex life experiences, patience, and grace. Every old soul possesses qualities like these, though in varying measure.

It is hard to imagine Boomers or Silents who are not old souls, though I know such people exist. They are the “young at heart,” folks who somehow dodged the full impact of our travels through time. They continue living their lives much as they did when they were in their 20s or 30s, oblivious of the gathering clouds, refusing to accept the social and physical realities of old age. We all know people like this. Their approach to life is unusual and uncommon. But if they can pull it off without looking absurd, more power to them.

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There is also an inverse phenomenon, one which may be harder to comprehend. Young people live among us who have old souls. Their old soul characteristics are not fully developed, but they manifest a wiser and deeper outlook on life than their peers.

I want to mention three examples of young people with old souls I have personally encountered.

Several years ago, when I was working as a medical director for Medi-Cal, one of the quality assurance staff was a 30-year-old woman whose favorite movies and TV programs were those featuring old people. She preferred books written by old authors about old topics. The culture and interests of others her age were of little concern for her. She had an old soul.

This past spring I taught a class on EKG reading to a group of 10 energetic young medical students. They had to record their attendance by signing in on a piece of paper, but only one of the ten students carried a pen. The others had no use for a pen, since they rarely if ever interacted with physical pieces of paper. The pen was passed around so everyone could sign in. The student with the pen was also the only one who came to class with a printed packet of sample EKG’s. The other nine viewed the EKG tracings on screens on their tablets. Learning EKG’s is much easier using paper tracings than looking at a screen, and the pen-carrying, paper-utilizing student was far more advanced in EKG interpretation than her classmates. When I complimented her at the end of the class about her use of pen and paper, she smiled briefly and said, “I’m just an old soul.”

For my last example, I want to talk about my granddaughter, who is 2 years, 9 months old. My wife and I get to babysit frequently and have a very close relationship with her. She often talks and acts in ways that give me pause. A few weeks ago, she walked up to me and said, “It’s a beautiful morning,” then asked, “How are you, Papa?” And she listened to my response attentively.

When her cousin had a bad headache several months ago, she was very concerned, almost tearful, showing on her face she knew the pain her cousin was feeling. The next time she saw her cousin a week later, she asked her how she was doing.

Recently, I told her a very bad joke. She listened to it, glared at me, rolled her eyes, and said very sarcastically, “You are so funny,” then walked away. This past weekend, my granddaughter was chatty and making constant comments and asking frequent questions. I was distracted with something else and kept saying, “Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm.” Finally she came over, shook my shoulder, and said, “Stop saying ‘Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm’ to me. Use your words!” On another occasion she responded to a comment I made, saying, “That doesn’t make sense.” There are many other examples of her saying things amusing, thoughtful, and empathetic.

I know that toddlers develop mental and physical skills at different speeds and different ages, but I find it a bit unusual for my granddaughter to sometimes sound like a 40-year-old.

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What accounts for young people having old souls? Some feel it is confirmation of reincarnation. They believe that after a person dies, their soul enters a newborn baby. I find this hard to believe. But maybe I will have a different perspective on reincarnation in a few decades. For now, I look for reasons which are more easily verifiable.

It is fairly easy to understand how a person in their 20s or 30s becomes an old soul. They have a deeper level of empathy, understanding, and introspection than their peers. They incorporate life experiences easily and are less distracted by many societal trends which buffet the lives of young people.

But can a toddler truly be an old soul? What makes a child under age 3 empathetic? What leads her to understand and reject the occasional nonsense offered her by adults? Will she retain her old soul as she moves forward through life, or will it fade, and perhaps reappear in 30 years? I do not have answers.

Life is full of mysteries, conundrums, and unusual phenomena. But one of the more fascinating is discovering old souls among the younger generations. They enrich the fabric and embellish the tapestry of our lives, and confirm that age is not necessarily just a number.

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