I will like to talk to you about a trend that I have noticed since I was young. I strongly believe it is worth considering to avoid reoccurrence in the lives of others which can impact on the society at large.
When I was young, say about 6 years old, I always wanted to grow up overnight to be like my uncles who could do whatever they wanted. They ate and went wherever they wanted.
Please tell me you felt that way as well… That was what I thought adulthood was all about. In retrospect, that’s not it at all. The fact that a lot of people assume adulthood i.e. just think they have grown into adulthood by the virtue of their physical growth is a big problem. This is because people grow in their bodies and not in their mind.
You will agree with me that some adults are making a great mess of adulthood. They talk to people anyhow, make poor decisions, treat people very badly all in the umbrella of adulthood.
I am writing this piece for you to be more deliberate about your growth in terms of what happens in your mind and your manner of thinking.
Adulthood Is Not Physical Growth The dictionary says that adulthood is the state or condition of being fully grown or mature. It talks about physical adulthood — the changes that happen in your body which might include your height, weight, or any other body development.
Another research says that adulthood is in 3 stages: early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood and all of this majorly talks about the changes that happen in the body.
I bet you have not been given money or some opportunities solely for the physical growth you have attained.
Adulthood is not just about the growth that happens in the body. It includes the growth that happens in your mind which influences your thoughts, decisions, outcomes, responses and a lot of other things like that.
The fact that we didn’t know these things while growing up did not help us pay attention to deliberately growing our mind — which includes deliberately feeding our mind and exercising it in the right direction.
We were made to understand that we should eat good food to grow and that’s all? That’s obviously not all.
Did Your Mind Grow At All? I know you might say that all I said earlier does not directly concern you because your mind grew and developed and some of your thinking patterns changed. You will agree with me that most of the changes and development that happened in your mind as you attained adulthood was subconscious.
By that I mean, your mind was molded by the things your environment, family or other people informed you about. You most likely never deliberately went to seek a particular knowledge that will improve your mind.
I am not judging you. I am just stating how it is, if this is getting to you then I am really happy because you are the one I want to address.
Be Honest With Yourself A better part of the time, people get angry when they receive feedback because whoever gave the feedback was accurate or almost accurate. When you receive feedback, it’s okay to feel bad but don’t take it wrongly and put up a fight with the person who gave it. Have a personal time with yourself to evaluate if what they said is true and seek ways to get better at it.
No one can be as honest with you as you can be to yourself. If you receive feedback that you are out rightly too selfish or too stingy, rather than trying to defend your self and argue with whoever told you, go back to your room and ask yourself if it’s true.
The place of personal realization is the beginning of transformation and change.
Take Responsibility For Your Character Flaws This is the highlight of this article. Taking responsibility means that you will do whatever you can to grow and improve your mind. Let me tell you this for free, most of your character flaws flow out of the programming in your mind.
For example, you might have to sit down to discover from credible feedback and personal evaluation that you treat others disrespectfully.
After discovery, you can start to read books or post about loving people and treating them well.
When you do this long enough, your mindset begins to shift and tilt in the direction of respect for other people and you begin to live it out.
As I close out on this piece, I will like to tell you that it is very dangerous to assume adulthood. It is also dangerous for you to leave your character flaws unattended to.
Whatever we don’t deal with now will hurt the next generation — your children, protegees, followers because you will subconsciously hand it over to them.
You can create a better life for yourself, don’t assume adulthood!
Comments