I'm 44, but I don't look it. My body is lean and strong, and since I prioritise my health, I think I'm probably getting healthier as I age, not the other way around.
I just spent the last week at my Mum's place. The woman who lives next door happens to have been in my year at school. She's raising four children of her own, as a solo parent, as well as three others that she's unofficially adopted because their parents are a total mess.
She has cancer. She can't work. And she looks old.
It's clear she's had a hard life, and when life knocks us around without enough support, it's our body that shows the scars. I feel for her.
She's not the only woman I know around my age who looks significantly older than she is. I can think of three other women (friends and family members) who have been very sick for years and just do not seem to be able to recover. They can barely work. Two of them barely leave the house; some days, they can't even get out of bed.
If I ever feel like I am getting wrinkly or saggy, I only have to remember how well my body is faring compared to these brave, kind women, and remember to be grateful for the precious body I have. And also, to remember how damn lucky I am that I have a lot of time and space to take really good care of myself - a luxury that stressed-out mothers, and overworked women worldwide simply do not have.
While my body is in incredible shape for my age, making me feel younger than almost every woman I meet in their forties, my soul feels old.
In the time and space I've had by choosing not to have children, I've travelled a lot, experienced a lot and studied a lot. Much of what I've studied has been about health and healing.
It's put me in this incredible position where I know a lot of things about the nature of life, the Universe and all things that others do not.
This is a double-edged sword. It's wonderful to understand things that some people only work out on their deathbed or when they're twice my age, but sometimes it's also lonely. To be surrounded by many people who are older than me but lacking the wisdom I've somehow accumulated in this life means I need to keep seeking out more and more like-minded like-hearted people. People who get what I get. People who understand that joy is the point and that we can achieve far greater change in the world, for the benefit of all, if we're willing and able to feel our way through all the emotions - even the hard ones.
Is it arrogant of me to call myself an old soul? I think that would be the case only if I called myself that to the exclusion of others. If I recognised the wisdom I contain without also simultaneously recognising the deep wisdom in others I meet.
Really, I think it's about how deeply a person is connected to their own internal truth as well as Life itself.
The more connected we are to our intuition, to our version of God, and to the flow of life, the more 'old soul' behaviour we'll see. If you're fortunate enough to be really plugged into life this way, not only spiritually, but also physically it will mean a younger, healthier body as well.
If this post has reminded me of anything - as it poured out of me - it's that I'm far luckier than I remember most days. And from this place, the most useful thing I can do is to see how I can be of service to others.
Thanks, 
The question I answered in this post was:
Do you feel older or younger for your age?
My answer? Obviously, it is both =)