Jean Améry once wrote about the conductor Ernest Ansermet in his final years.
Ansermet was a progressive conductor who premiered a lot of Stravinsky's work. But late in life, when he heard new music, he got angry and refused to accept it.
The mind ages differently from the body. There are no wrinkles to show it, so it's easy to miss. An aging mind stops listening to other people. It stops wanting to learn. It stops sitting with questions that don't have answers.
The more people I meet, the clearer it gets: the age of your mind doesn't always match the age of your body. Some people are young but won't listen, and hang on to one short run of success. Others get older and still listen, still question their own judgment, still want to learn.
When I was a junior designer, I worked with a frontend lead who listened to everyone the same way, chin in hand, no matter who was talking or what they said. Looking back, most of what I said was half-baked and a little cocky. He heard me out every time anyway, whether or not anything came of it. Then he'd pick the good ideas and run with them. He had a real balance between listening and acting.
Another person I still think about is a facilities manager I met at the Goethe-Institut. He was in his sixties, and every night after work he took an adult German class. I asked if he wasn't exhausted. He said you get old the moment you stop learning, and that he wanted to stay young at heart. He picked things up slowly, but his attitude inspired all of us.
I'd been listening to the same music on repeat, and it hit me that this might be aging too. So lately I've been going out of my way to find new things. Today it's Hindi music and C-pop.