A friend of mine believes that as people age they tend to become caricatures of themselves. I think this means that our quirks become more pronounced. My friend, for example, has always been claustrophobic but seems to be more claustrophobic as she's gotten older. I think aging does some interesting things. If we've lived our lives with any degree of competence, we've gathered more experiences, some of which may scar us and others of which may embolden us. I think there's a "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" question about whether our experiences shape our expectations or our expectations shape our experiences.
