Do Old Souls Have Harder Lives? The Surprising Truth

Maybe the term “old soul” is relatively new to your vocabulary, or it is something you've known about yourself your entire life.

If you are an old soul, it might seem like you have it harder than the world's surface-level thinkers.

When answering the question, “do old souls have harder lives,” the answer becomes a bit tricky. 

Do old souls have harder lives? 

In short, the answer is yes, and no. Who's to say if one person's life is harder than another?

However, when considering the generally accepted idea of a good life, you could say old souls have it a little harder. Old souls are self-aware, deep-thinking outcasts who find it difficult to relate to those around them. 

The monotony of the day-to-day life threatens the mental health of someone with an old soul, but maintaining healthy, long-lasting relationships can be extremely hard for them as well – more on this below. 

Why Is Life Harder For An Old Soul?

When you think of a good life, it probably has something to do with a nice job, a family you love, and friends you can count on.

Being an old soul most likely means you lack in one or all of these areas because of the characteristics that describe what it means to be an old soul. 

Some common characteristics of an old soul are: 

• Wisdom beyond your years
• A deep understanding of the universe
• Highly empathic 
• Strong intuition

It is because of characteristics like these that old souls have harder lives than those that are not.

Intense wisdom, empathy, and intuition all lead to things in life that account for the difficulty old souls experience. 

Below is a closer look into what these particular hardships are. 

10 Common Hardships That Make Life As An Old Soul Harder

1. The constant need to find a deeper meaning within the universe can lead to mental health problems. 

It is extremely common for those with old souls to have a deep unresolvable yearning to find a deeper meaning to life.

You are not only aware of the universe and its inner workings, but you are self-aware, sometimes to a fault. 

Old souls also commonly suffer from existential crises.

When you see life as a transitional state, it can make daily life seem pointless and monotonous.

One of the only ways to overcome this feeling is to take a nosedive into your spiritual growth.

You must do the work to find meaning in your life, and this can only come from within. 

Learning methods of self-love and self-care will come from this intense growth experience, and maintaining a healthy balance between the two is crucial.

If the balance isn't there, you will become mentally drained, depressed, or anxious.

Providing yourself the protection, care, maintenance, and love you need will allow you to pursue your search for the abyss with a mentally strong head on your shoulders. 

2. Learning how to harness your empathy can prove to be overwhelming. 

Empathy is something that, if you aren't aware, you possess it, you could find yourself mentally and emotionally exhausted at every turn.

Old souls are notorious empaths and depending on how sensitive and aware you are of your empathic nature, harnessing the power can prove to be nearly impossible. 

For those that find it difficult to function or connect with others in society because of your strong empathic abilities, learning ways to protect and cleanse your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual energy will provide you with the relief you need to share yourself with the world properly.

After all, what's the point in being an empath if you can't use it for any good?

We are all incarnated on the Earth at this time because we are here to learn and connect with one another.

Empathy is a great way to truly connect with someone on more than just the physical level.

It is not something that should be seen as a curse or a burden.

When you unlock the ability to harness it, your perspective of the world will change too. 

This is another area that is best relieved and matured with a greater study and realization of the self.

When it comes to being an old soul, a good start to overcoming any problem is to first try some introspective work and finding realizations within the self. 

3. Surface-level conversations don't interest you, so it can be hard to make new friends. 

Kindred spirits are when two souls meet each other eye-to-eye, on a spiritual level.

As if your third eye sees the other's third eye exactly for who they are and on some level, it is innately the same as you.

You feel this deep connection with the person as if you can speak telepathically or in your own language that no one else understands.

Meeting someone like this doesn't happen often, but if you are an old soul, there is a greater chance it'll happen to you. 

You must first allow yourself to have those hard, surface-level conversations.

Allow yourself to meet people.

You may feel like the outcast or the black sheep, but there is always going to be someone out there that relates to you.

Whatever you do, don't let yourself shell up and hide who you naturally are from the world.

If you do this, you will be doing yourself an injustice and could potentially miss out on the connection of a lifetime. 

It is also important to remember that sometimes surface-level conversations are just what the doctor ordered.

Old souls tend to live their lives lost in the spiritual world, but life is about balance, which also means you must find a healthy balance between the physical and metaphysical aspects of the world. 

4. Maintaining old relationships and friendships can prove difficult, as well. 

As an old soul, you are exceptional at making others happy and feel good about themselves, not to mention you have the gift of comfortability.

Many people feel as though they can come to you during those rough times, and you will give them the advice they need to continue on.

You obtain this gift through the ability to observe and learn from the human condition. 

Old souls are natural people, watchers, and learners.

You can see the core of someone's hurting and help alleviate the pain, so to speak.

However, because of this innate ability to see to someone's core, it doesn't stop you from observing those you love as well.

It might be hard for you to maintain old relationships because you aren't afraid to call them out when you know they aren't acting true to character. 

Many people aren't willing to look at themselves with a fine-toothed comb as you are with yourself.

Your high expectations and awareness of yourself could lead to you projecting this intensity onto others.

This is another great instance where a continuance of self-discovery will take you a long way. 

5. You are probably unrealistically hard on yourself. 

Sometimes being self-aware can become problematic.

It can lead to you overthinking and judging yourself on minuscule things.

A little tough love is good for the soul, but you must also remember to celebrate your achievements. 

Not only that, but don't be afraid to take a day off to just celebrate life in general.

As a society, we are all moving so fast all the time, that we forget what being alive actually feels like.

Be sure to take yourself to your happy place to rest and recoup every now and then to keep you from being overly hard on yourself. 

6. Ignoring social injustices is nearly impossible. 

You've been here before.

As an old soul, you might not be able to recall any previous lives, but you have a deep understanding of the universe and a gut feeling that you've been here before.

That said, you also understand how sacred life is.

Whether you are speaking of a human, plant, or animal, any form of injustice is grotesque to you. 

Old souls tend to love and cherish all forms of life, so when they here of injustice happening, it pains them on a spiritual level.

You might find yourself trying to make real change in the world for the betterment of the life in question.

You feel as though it is your duty to do something because once you are aware of something, you can't ignore it. 

When sticking up for social injustice in the world, you will inevitably make some enemies in the process.

These are the souls that are unwilling to grow or just haven't reached that level of acceptance in their journey just yet.

Nonetheless, you are encouraged to keep your self-care routine a prominent part of your life as it will help you navigate the injustice while maintaining a level of spiritual composure to keep you on track.  

7. You often feel intense pressure to “do more.”

Naturally, as someone that is self-aware, you will expect a lot from yourself.

You understand that you have all this untapped energy resting within you.

You understand that you have the power to create any reality you wish.

However, this can lead to a toxic imbalance between work and rest.

You might start to feel as though you aren't doing enough to accomplish your goals. 

You might also have a hard time accepting help from others. This idea of ultra-independence is a trauma response that fuels the ego.

If you notice yourself hiding from the support of those around you, there is a good chance you should get your ego in check.

We are on this planet to live out the human experience, and you can't do that alone.

Allow yourself to give in to the fear of losing control and learn to accept help and rest occasionally. 

8. You find it difficult to speak your mind.  

It is common for those with strong intuitive powers to have trouble expressing themselves verbally.

Chances are, you find languages restricting and rigid.

The idea that a word can have only one accepted definition is utterly outrageous in your eyes.

You understand that it is the person's experience that they attach to words, which help them comprehend the definition the word is assigned. 

For example, one person cannot possibly say that the word “love” only has one definition.

Everyone has their own definition of love.

Therefore, when an old soul tries to express themselves, they tend to get tongue-tied or caught up on specific words because they feel that none of the words sufficiently express their feelings. 

As a result, the old soul feels misunderstood, mainly because they feel they haven't done the best job of explaining themselves in the first place.

That is why most old souls express themselves through actions rather than words.

The right action can sometimes go further than any particular word ever could.

RELATED: 75 Old Soul Quotes (With Shareable Images)

9. You find normal life monotonous. 

For an old soul, living a life of routine with a 9-5 job sounds like their worst nightmare.

That is why you usually find old souls living as artists, writers, philosophers, and herbalists.

These lifestyles add to the creativity and open-mindedness that an old soul requires. 

If you are someone with an old soul and you are depressed from working a 9-5 job, do yourself the common courtesy of pursuing what you love instead.

That is the only way you will ever truly be happy in this life and the next. 

10. Finding and maintaining love doesn't happen often. 

Lastly, finding and maintaining love seems to be something that is difficult for most people to accomplish.

The good thing about an old soul is that when they come across their match, they are usually tuned-in enough to realize it.

However, this type of love doesn't happen often, and it definitely won't happen until you have done the spiritual work necessary to allow this type of love to walk into your life. 

You likely aren't someone that dates a lot of people throughout your life because you are more likely to take your connections and relationships very seriously.

Sometimes, a lifelong love isn't in the cards for you.

It is important that you remember you are on YOUR journey, and at the end of the day, you have the power to manifest all you wish from this life, but if you are having trouble with love, there's a chance you haven't done enough spiritual self-work.

Either that or you are focused on something that is just not meant for you. 

Regardless of the hardships you face as an old soul, there are bound to be a few.

It might be difficult to say whether or not an old soul has it any harder than anyone else in the world, but when trying to alleviate some of the hardships in your life, it is always best to start within.

Don't be afraid to dive into the depts of your soul.

Meet yourself and all the traits that make up your personality and energetic spirituality.

It is the only way you will live your life to the fullest as an old soul.