When you finally reach adulthood, you can take a deep breath and reflect humorously on your childhood. But your ability to continue to learn and grow doesn’t stop. In fact, it becomes an even more crucial aspect to your personal development. Sure, you may feel older and wiser because of your age. But there is so much more to learn. You never stop learning, whether you are 25 or 85. Refusing to learn and grow personally only causes confusion, suffering and a variety of life problems. Every situation you encounter as an adult is an opportunity for personal development. If it is an unhealthy situation that often repeats itself, then you need to pay attention because there is some lesson that you are refusing to learn. Personal development becomes more challenging in adulthood because the repercussions are far more serious. As a child, you are given a certain amount of space to make mistakes and to learn from them. But people expect more from adults, and if you are repeating the same mistakes that you made as a child, something needs to change. The only difference between childhood and adulthood is age. You may be physically older, but that doesn’t mean you are finished learning. The lesson sitting in front of you could be life changing, but only if you are able to recognize it.
There are many different aspects to human development, including (but not limited to) self-awareness, self-knowledge, identity, spiritual growth, and fulfilling aspirations. In childhood, these are all raw and confusing concepts. But as you get older and learn more about yourself and your habits, you will become more self-aware. You will learn what kind of situations trigger certain emotions within you and why you choose to respond to them in habitual ways. Most of your physical development occurs in childhood. But what so many people fail to realize is that most of your personal development occurs throughout adulthood.
Your life is made up of stages, and as you grow older, you can look back on previous stages with a profound sense of awareness. Thus, you will enter each stage even wiser and more developed than you were before. There is a specific reason why this model of stages works so well, and that is due the fact that as you age, you become mature enough to analyze and address emotions that were too overwhelming to deal with in a previous stage. For example, traumatizing events that happened while you were a child may be too hard to deal with. So you stuff the emotions down instead. Once you’re an adult, you have the maturity and understanding to finally address those emotions without fear. Unfortunately, some adults may be mature in age but not mature enough to handle those childhood emotions. So, they turn to drugs, engage in risky sexual behavior, or abuse alcohol instead. These kinds of habits may dull the pain and even make it go away for a little while, but eventually the pain resurfaces. There’s only one sure way to deal with childhood pain, and that is to face it head on. Only then can you move through it and continue healthy personal development. If you do not move through the pain and choose to ignore it instead, then it will inhibit your personal growth and cause a great deal of suffering.
As difficult as it may be for some, talking to a licensed therapist will help make dealing with those emotions easier. It’s also a healthy means of personal development. While meeting with a licensed therapist, you will be able to release trapped emotions and identify triggers that cause you to engage in unhealthy activities and habits. Understanding triggers is important, because when you recognize them you can make better choices instead of repeating the same old habits. Personal development means learning from your mistakes, growing as a person and living a fulfilling life.
If you want to continue learning and growing throughout your, then you need to understand the importance of personal development in adulthood. You need to be honest and open with yourself, and realize that you do not know everything despite your age. You don’t receive a certificate when you reach a certain age that says you are finished with personal development. The fact is that you are never finished. From the moment you open your eyes as a newborn baby to the moment you close them when you die, you will be learning, growing, changing and developing as a person. But how much you learn, grow, change and develop all depends on your willingness to participate. If you really want to live a healthy and productive live, be open to personal development throughout your lifetime and support yourself as you continue to learn and grow.
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