Maturity is not a matter of age, it is a matter of how you choose to respond and react to various life situations.

We all go through developmental stages: infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and old age.
We all face challenges going through those stages, some of us are able to move on through them okay and some of us get stuck.

Each stage has its crises. Crisis is a normal state of life, it is part of our evolution. Each stage moves us forward and opens up opportunities for creativity and joy.

Endeavour allows us to evolve, and anything that evolves goes through a crisis and requires effort in order to get to the next developmental level.
The problem is that if we are unable to process our crisis emotionally in an optimal way we get stuck, this stuckness limits our life. It disrupts our ability to be successful in our undertakings, to have good relationships, to be confident and happy, to feel love and be loved, to make effective and clear decisions.

Unprocessed crises can be processed with guided help. You can get unstuck and move on, but only if you really want to get unstuck. No one can save you without your will, and you will need to put some effort in to go through stuckness.

Most people choose to stay stuck, walking in circles is familiar and predictable and reminds me of a poem by Portia Nelson, called Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.

I.
I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
II.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I still don’t see it. I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
It isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
III.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there, I still fall in.
It’s habit. It’s my fault. I know where I am.
I get out immediately.
IV.
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
V.
I walk down a different street.
So, what are you choosing?

Do you choose to process your unprocessed crisis, challenge or mistake that will make you more attuned to yourself and lead to more joy in your life or you choose to keep repeating making the same choices that bring the same unsatisfying results.

What is maturity for you?