Lately, I have been awestruck by how God is so concerned about our lives, especially how he ordered us in ages and stages. I am deeply dumfounded by His immeasurable wisdom in petitioning our lives that way, so much that no matter how we want to stay forever, time fails us all.
Our lives have been ordered in stages with ages as the major determinants. Hence, every stage you are in life right now is labeled by a given age range, and every age range comes with its prospects and challenges. Our ability to understand these two and make the most out of them determines how relevant and effective our lives will be. Again, every age comes with its peculiar challenges and crisis, and transition from one stage to another is often difficult but needful. Time is one thing we don’t always have on our side, thus the need to internalize the reality of ages and stages to make the best out of life; life is brief, and its brevity is what makes time very significant.
What I desire to share from this piece, is a reality I am still unfolding, and I strongly believe we all are unfolding same regardless of what age or stage we are right now in life.
#The Age and Stage of Dependency and Imitation
Somehow, I know if you are reading this piece now, you have passed this stage already in your life. However, the few lines I will say about this should be a reminder to you that you owe it to those kids coming behind you to help them make the most of this phase in their life.
This age and stage is labeled the dependency and imitation phase of life because all that you are and everything you need is provided for you. Here your existence as a person solely depends on others and you worry about almost nothing. It is the time where you imitate and mimic those around you; what they say, what they do and how they live. The first basic things of life are being internalized here both from home and early childhood education.
Look around you, how many kids do you have learning and mimicking you? The crux of the lesson I want to share about this stage is the fact that life begets life. Yes, you might have passed this stage already, but don’t ever forget that those little ones still experiencing this stage of life are taking in from your life. Hence, you need to watch what you say, what you do and how you do it, because both your actions and inactions impressed upon their lives.
#The Age and Stage of Self-Exploration
Most of us reading this piece form the large chunk of this phase of life. This is the most adventurous phase of life where you explore yourself and get to know your potentials and what you can do; also, the desire to try out new things is the in thing here. Unlike the previous age and stage where you solely depend and imitate others, here there is desperate search for independence, identity and longing to stand out. Most of life’s lessons here are learnt by trial and error, hit and miss and mostly experimental.
This moment of life is very delicate and sensitive and if you are reading this piece, I know you are relating deeply with this age and stage of life. This phase of life offers series of opportunities for decision making, with every choice having rippling subsequent consequences in the future. Here, a lot of habits, attitudes, and life’s patterns are ingrained permanently and we live mostly in the community of friends and peers – especially in the school.
What you do with this age and stage of life mostly reflects in the kind of man and woman you end up becoming in the next phase of life. Thus, if you are in this age and stage in life right now, it will be wise to know that every action and inaction you take is a seed that you will reap in time. Therefore, ensure that you make the most of the strength prevalent in this phase of life. Don’t get carried away, it is okay to catch fun but let it be regret-free fun. Invest in yourself, develop yourself and above all honour God and serve humanity. Always keep in mind that you can and will be young only once.
#The Age and Stage of Reality and Commitment
This age and stage of life is laced with commitments, responsibilities and legacy formation. You see, most often after we have explored and experimented so much in/with life, and we might have burnt some bridges and even got burnt ourselves; then reality dawn on us that time is no longer on our side and we are no longer getting younger, and we look forward to settling down and making life time commitments such as marriage, starting a family and raising children.
Honestly, in this phase of life, even if you desire to explore and be adventurous, the rope of reality and responsibility will limit you. Again, you have career and job to worry about and the truth of laying down a legacy for your children and significant others who are looking up you. Let me quickly note here that to escape regrets in this stage of life, handle the previous age and stage of life with utmost responsibility and carefulness.
#The Age and Stage of Passing Down Legacy
This phase requires small activities, it avails one the time for self-evaluation of how far and how well he or she has come in life. Here, the legacy(ies) you have formed and created over time noble or otherwise is/are being passed down to your next generation. Again, you get to accept some realities of life such as preparation to exit this life. One of your valued stock in business here is your experience and wisdom; as many young people will be referring to you when life get tough for them. One notable thing in this phase of life is the fact that you get to review your life, scanning through all the previous phases; celebrating victories, looking with nostalgia on the bridges you’ve burnt and the wrong turns you’ve made. Knowing these therefore, you really need to make the most of every stage of your life.
What Next?
To wrap up this piece, I will like to challenge you to savour every bit of every age and stage of life. Learn every day, plan to grow deliberately and love intentionally every day. Regardless of the phase you are now, make every moment of life count, build up yourself, and always remember that everything you do in the current age and stage of life you are now is a seed that you will reap in the next stage.
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Awesome piece
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