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To Your Inner Anxious Child: Why We Don’t Recognize Our Younger Selves · insyed; cozy psychology

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  Could you have thought any other way? A lot of
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  us grew up sensitive, and some of us still are.
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  But what about the times where we didn't really
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  know why we felt the way that we did? We were
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  rash, impulsive, and we'd do things we'd never
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  do today. So why is our younger self such a stranger
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  to us now? The brain is a muscle that gets stronger
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  over time. But what we often forget is that different
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  parts of the brain grow and go down different
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  roads of development. The amygdala, which is
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  responsible for emotions, takes the highway and
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  develops faster than our prefrontal cortex, which
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  is responsible for our logical thinking and reasoning.
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  The prefrontal cortex takes a slower, quieter
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  back road to mature and develop. This mismatch
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  not only means that we're extra sensitive to
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  our emotions, but at that age, our brains physically
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  weren't ready to deal with it. It's like if your
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  car didn't have brakes. You could go really fast,
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  but if you can't stop, you won't be going far
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  for long. So let this be an invitation to forgive
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  yourself for how you felt. Not as an excuse,
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  but more of an acknowledgement for who you were
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  at the time. Because there was nothing you could
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  cognitively do. And to bring reality back where
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  it belongs, look at how much you've grown. And
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  for reference, your prefrontal cortex isn't fully
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  ready until you're 25. So until then and beyond,
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  take the step forward and show that change is
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  actually possible. Take care. Thank you.