Without reading the whole post... there are definitely aspects of my personality that haven't changed at all since I was a kid. But anything that was based on a misunderstanding of how the world functions or why people did things has changed. I remember being fearful of other people as a teenager, like I thought they had time to judge me and I needed to impress them. That view shaped a lot of what my personality was back then and since my view has changed I've pretty much flipped to the exact opposite.

I object to intraversion being cast in solely negative terms. Introverts are also more self reflective and self aware, more comfortable with solitude and even enjoying time alone, less afraid to be alone, and more likely to devote time to reading.

Anyway, I've always said people can change but most of us choose not to. I think on the stated dimensions above if people change it is a matter of degree rather than switching sides entirely. For example, as a kid I used to look at the floor and say nothing when someone just passing by said hello. Today I can socialize like anyone else when I want to but I'm clearly more comfortable with people I already know, and find it easier to get to know someone talking one on one or in small groups rather than in a crowd of people. But I will never be an extrovert. Crowds and noise are just too draining after a while (unless there is karaoke but that's just because I can sing much better than I can do small talk.) On openness, I think people who start out open tend to drift toward further openness over time, especially in the right environment. Someone who tends to be closed off only becomes more open with a radical change in environment (ex. all white rural neighborhood vs. a racially diverse college).

Im definately not the same person I used to be. I think a whole lot of people -including me-think that's a good thing

I don’t have a testing baseline from earlier in my life, but compared to 20 or 30, my Openness level has increased (from average to high) and I’m lower on Neuroticism (average to low). I’d say I’ve been fairly consistent on Conscientiousness (about 65-75 percentile, kinda above average), Agreeableness (about 30-40th percentile), and Extraversion (about 15-20th percentile). If only I could make the same progress with Agreeableness and Extraversion that I have made with Openness...

It seems that my character is the same from when I was a young child, but the rest of me is still evolving with every experience. That won't stop until I am dead.

It seems that my character is the same from when I was a young child, but the rest of me is still evolving with every experience. That won't stop until I am dead.

The only thing that fits me is evolved. I have taken every negative or positive influence that I have experienced or was involved with someone who went through a traumatic change. I have broken bits of the ideas off, incorporate each event to try and improving others thought processes. As any evolving being would do is adjust to the circumstances, and adjust for the margin of errors.

As I have aged, I've become more obstinant about certain things, and much more tolerant of others. My critical thinking has sharpened, yet my attention span is that of a goldfish. I read through the post with much interest, as I enjoy self discovery, and learning what makes people tick. On every one of the OCEAN points, I break the mold. They're very academic; not very well thought through IMHO. But then maybe that's cuz I'm a Gemini.

I think we all fall into those categories, more or less. Achieving balance in accordance to your own needs at the time gives it fluidity. But, as I age, I find myself less fluid and more in a balance with contentment. I feel that I can now be more authentic than the many roles I played, employer, director, engineer, chauffuer, baby sitter, business woman, lover, mother, cousin and friend as we interact with each other. Now life is simple and on my terms as. My grand kids say that I am ferule. I have been ferule all of my life and enjoy all the love and pleasure I can exchange with all living beings who's path I am honored to walk, if only for a little while.

I read the post, and scolled thru the comments. At first my mind buzzed and I was thinking my comment would be a long tale of how I changed and coped along the way. As tho to justify my means of getting here and then this - for the most part have stayed true to myself. Not so long but it says enuff.

We've likely all heard the phrase "works in progress". That's how I feel about myself - especially when I look back.

While my basic core remains the same, I'm continually tweaking, trying new ways of going through the world, and exposing myself to enough that hopefully I gain more wisdom !

I think more people are constantly in flux, than not - for better or worse.

I believe the only constant in life is change. We humans are capable of radical change almost instantaneously. Personally, although my values are basically the same as they were in my youth, my abilities for empathy, analysis and expression have grown incredibly. I'm looking forward to discovering more about what I don't know about myself!

I was raised in Midwestern Ohio among the corn and winter wheat. I was very naive. I got married, moved to PA, and after a short period of time, a spiritual path opened for me. I have never been the other person since. My personalities, my ethics, my morals, all changed. So onward I go.

We're always changing, but why dwell on it. Nostalgia is a thing of the past. LOL

im not the same but sometimes i wish i was, sometimes im glad ive changed

I am not the person I once was, thankfully, and hopefully, not the person I will become.

I honestly don't think I'm the same person I was 10 minutes ago. Who you are and how you react to things has so much to do with your environment and other things we can't control. We don't have as much control as we think we do.

I don't think we're the same person moment to moment, but very similar (usually). As we change, slowly, imperceptibly day to day, we change by leaps and bounds decade to decade. I think of it like evolution, where one generation to the next is very similar but a hundred or a thousand generations can be drastically different. There's still an influence of some sort, but there might be no direct resemblance. I saw a video that explained what I've been thinking in terms of chainmail: we gradually keep adding to one end, and links get removed from the other, so at some point it's nearly all new, but never an abrupt change.

Sam Harris says the self is a process rather than a static entity and I'll go along with that, but I think we grow into ourselves. The adolescent me was as much me as I am today, but there are stark differences.

I've changed quite a lot since my teen years and strive to change everyday. If you aren't changing/growing, you're stuck.

I've changed so much in my life, I think living is change. I'm much more direct now than I ever was, and more sure of what I do want or will not tolerate. I like me better now too.

If you are not changing, you are dead intellectually and emotionally. Otherwise, you try to become better in who you are and how you feel about yourself and others.

In many ways I am the same person I have always been. But I have changed drastically in other ways. There was a drastic change in me at the age of 25. I went from a hopeless alcoholic, with all the character flaws that go with that, into an honest, caring, hard working, dependable human being. I have even been accused of being humble.

Constantly changing, at least for me. I am striving to be a better person every day.

I am a New Man every day.