Unsplash / Caleb George

This Is What It Actually Means To Be An ‘Old Soul'

Old souls are healers, and sometimes don’t know when to draw the line between what’s their responsibility to take on, and what’s not.
Holly Riordan
May 3, 2017
“They aren’t going to go out of their way to meet new people, but once you become a part of their life, they aren’t going to let you go. They’re going to treat you like family.”
— Holly Riordan, This Is Why Old Souls Would Rather Stay Home Than Spend The Night Partying
Tagged: Old Souls, Family, socializing
“Old souls aren’t the type to party every weekend, because they don’t need the rush of alcohol to have a nice time. They’re perfectly happy relaxing with their favorite blanket as they read a book or share stories with their loved ones.”
— Holly Riordan, This Is Why Old Souls Would Rather Stay Home Than Spend The Night Partying
Tagged: Old Souls, Partying, Relaxation
“Old souls aren’t afraid to spend time alone. They’re comfortable with silence.”
— Holly Riordan, This Is Why Old Souls Would Rather Stay Home Than Spend The Night Partying
Tagged: Old Souls, Silence, alone time, Alone
“You go to work and you dream about another life, another era, another time when life was more about peace rather than stress, when less was more, when beauty wasn’t so hard to find.”
— Rania Naim, When You’re An Old Soul And A Hopeless Romantic Living In A World Expecting You To Be Everything You’re Not
Tagged: Old Souls, Stress, beauty
“When you’re an old soul and a hopeless romantic, you don’t give up. You don’t settle. You keep fighting. You keep dreaming. You believe that somehow, you’ll find the truth. You’ll find the home you’re looking for. You’ll find where you belong.”
— Rania Naim, When You’re An Old Soul And A Hopeless Romantic Living In A World Expecting You To Be Everything You’re Not
Tagged: Old Souls, Romantic, Dreaming, Fighting
“Sometimes you’re forced to be a loner because no one really understands you and the more you hang out with people, the more you lose yourself, the more you question who you should be and the more you ask yourself if you’re an alien living with humans or if you’re a human living with aliens.”
— Rania Naim, When You’re An Old Soul And A Hopeless Romantic Living In A World Expecting You To Be Everything You’re Not
Tagged: Old Souls, Alien, Loners
“Old souls don’t settle. They honestly would rather be dead than to ever settle. They have always known that they can’t do casual relationships like most people their age. They can’t stomach the idea of being intimate with someone who they hardly know, and they won’t give into peer pressure to have one night stands.”
— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, This Is Why Old Souls Are The Best People To Fall In Love With
Tagged: Old Souls, Settling, Casual Sex, one-night stands
“Old souls may seem like prudes to you, or like they don’t ‘have anything fun. But I can assure you, their relationships are far greater and impactful than casual relationships.”
— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, This Is Why Old Souls Are The Best People To Fall In Love With
Tagged: Old Souls, Settling, Casual Sex, one-night stands
“An old soul will always think and talk highly of you, constantly bragging to their loved ones about you. They aren’t going to abandon you or jump ship. They aren’t going to get bored and want to play the field.”
— Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, This Is Why Old Souls Are The Best People To Fall In Love With
Tagged: Old Souls, bragging, Play The Field
“They read constantly. Interesting digital articles are nice, but for them, nothing is better than cracking open a brand new, actual book.”
— Kim Quindlen, 10 Ways Old Souls Interact Differently With The World
Tagged: Old Souls, Books, Reading
“They feel really uncomfortable during dinners or social events where everyone they are spending time with is on the phone.”
— Kim Quindlen, 10 Ways Old Souls Interact Differently With The World
Tagged: Old Souls, Texting, socializing
“They tend to struggle with being indecisive. Because it’s never just ‘an easy decision.’ For them, it’s overthinking a million different factors and a million different possible turnouts.”
— Kim Quindlen, 10 Ways Old Souls Interact Differently With The World
Tagged: Old Souls, Overthinking, Indecisive
“Old souls are not interested in playing hard to get or partaking in the chase. In fact, they find the rules of modern dating to be absolutely exhausting.”
— Molly Burford, 10 Reasons Why The Best Relationship Of Your Life Will Be With An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, hard to get, Modern Dating
“An old soul understands that having pain is all part of the human condition, and will love you through your darkness because they still see all of your light.”
— Molly Burford, 10 Reasons Why The Best Relationship Of Your Life Will Be With An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, Love, Darkness
“An old soul will love you openly and proudly, embracing the vulnerability that’s necessary for deep love with grace and passion. You will never experience another love like them.”
— Molly Burford, 10 Reasons Why The Best Relationship Of Your Life Will Be With An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, Love, Vulnerable, Passion
“Old souls are healers, and sometimes don’t know when to draw the line between what’s their responsibility to take on, and what’s not.”
— Brianna Wiest, 17 Reasons Why Old Souls Have A Harder Time Being Happy
Tagged: Old Souls, Healers, Giving
“Old souls have the easiest time becoming over-workers, almost feeling guilty if they don’t use all of the energy they have to create.”
— Brianna Wiest, 17 Reasons Why Old Souls Have A Harder Time Being Happy
Tagged: Old Souls, Workaholid, Overworking
“Old souls are often born into families who don’t understand them. This, of course, is a tremendous growing tool (and really, only fellow old souls will ever ‘get’ each other fully) but it makes for a tumultuous upbringing. Those formative years then end up impacting their adult relationships a lot more than is often realized.”
— Brianna Wiest, 17 Reasons Why Old Souls Have A Harder Time Being Happy
Tagged: Old Souls, Family, Misunderstood
“Old souls are after long-lasting, impactful, meaningful relationships in all aspects of life. They’d rather have a few close friends than dozens of acquaintances they hardly know but this can give the impression they’re some sort of social outcast.”
— Koty Neelis, 10 Common Problems Old Souls Experience At Least Once In Their Life
Tagged: Old Souls, Relationships, Friendships
“Being an old soul can be an isolating existence at times. You need your solitude to sit and reflect on life and to recharge when you’ve completely exhausted yourself but sometimes this can be frustrating to your friends and family. They love you and they want to be around you.”
— Koty Neelis, 10 Common Problems Old Souls Experience At Least Once In Their Life
Tagged: Old Souls, Isolating, Solitude
“Old souls find simple pleasure in small moments in life, and activities that are a bit old-fashioned are what they’re naturally drawn to. Going on a weekend drive through the country, heading to the 24-hour diner at midnight on the other side of town with the best breakfast within a 50-mile radius, getting milkshakes and watching the sunset over the pier, spending the evening writing hand-written letters to your friends that live across the country.”
— Koty Neelis, 10 Common Problems Old Souls Experience At Least Once In Their Life
Tagged: Old Souls, Hobbies, activities
“Old souls are not ones for vengeance or holding grudges. They prefer to move on to focus on higher aspirations in life and it also helps them focus on their faith in the human spirit.”
— Samira Khan, 11 Endearing Ways To Make An Old Soul Fall In Love With You
Tagged: Old Souls, grudges, Vengeance
“Old souls are creatures of history and nostalgia. Given the richness of their imaginative worlds in their heads, it is important to communicate to them that you understand and remember their shared history, even the details. It tells them it meant something to you.”
— Samira Khan, 11 Endearing Ways To Make An Old Soul Fall In Love With You
Tagged: Old Souls, History, Nostalgia
“Old souls are less interested in in the grandness of what you say and more interested in your sincerity and honesty.”
— Samira Khan, 11 Endearing Ways To Make An Old Soul Fall In Love With You
Tagged: Old Souls, Sincerity, Honesty
“If you’re an old soul, you don’t fool around with e-readers. In fact, you’re probably one of the few that still visits the library on the regular.”
— Karen Wathen, 10 Things You Do That Undoubtedly Prove You’re An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, Reading, Books
“Even when you try desperately to sleep past sunrise like the rest of your generation, you simply cannot. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only gotten three hours of snoozing in, you’re up and at ‘em in the wee hours – always.”
— Karen Wathen, 10 Things You Do That Undoubtedly Prove You’re An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, Waking Up, mornings
“You still believe in the power of a hand-written word. You take the time to send a hand-penned thank you notes because they’re far more significant than an iMessage.”
— Karen Wathen, 10 Things You Do That Undoubtedly Prove You’re An Old Soul
Tagged: Old Souls, Handwritten, Writing
“Silence is beautiful. Silence reminds you of spending a night at home snuggled up with a good book. Being comfortable sitting in silence with someone says so much more about your relationship with that person than being able to keep a constant conversation going. It shows that they mean so much to you that simply having their presence in your life is enough.”
— Julie Sullivan, 10 Signs You’re An Old Soul Stuck In A Young Adult’s Body
Tagged: Old Souls, Silence, Quiet
“You know that there are so many people out there that would be great for you, but you also know that they’re homebodies just like you, so it’s hard to meet them.”
— Julie Sullivan, 10 Signs You’re An Old Soul Stuck In A Young Adult’s Body
Tagged: Old Souls, Homebodies, Dating
“You’d be happy to make new friends and spend time with them, but you’re not going to lower your standards just so that you can tell yourself you have more than five friends. You’re perfectly happy with the life you live; no need to change it.”
— Julie Sullivan, 10 Signs You’re An Old Soul Stuck In A Young Adult’s Body
Tagged: Old Souls, Friends, Friendships