Phases of Life

What the internet says about the phases of life:

1. Infancy

2. Toddlerhood

3. Preschool years

4. Early school years

5. Adolescence

6. Young adulthood

7. Middle adulthood

8. Late adulthood

Looking back on my life, the amount of phases I have endured is more than eight and I haven't even hit what most consider “adulthood.”

To me, a phase is defined by challenges, redirection, and growth. It is something new, exciting, and or daunting. Each will figure out how to get through it and adjust. Then we must move forward and grow from the phase.

Change is frightening to a lot of people. It can make us uncomfortable because under that discomfort lies a foundation of fear and uncertainty.

Change is a mindset. You have to be open to change, embrace it, and welcome it. Resisting change keeps you in a perpetuating cycle where growth remains stagnant and the only person to blame is yourself. You think others are hurting you, but I promise you are allowing them to hurt you.

You have heard the dialogue before: ‘Why do bad things happen to me? Why can’t I meet anyone? Why didn’t I get the job? Why is everyone else so lucky? Why can’t I lose weight?” — Sound familiar?

Choices. You always have the choice to turn the direction of your life around no matter how small or large the battle in front of you stands. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith in a direction that has no clear path to get to the next phase in life.

Risk it to get the biscuit :)

Phases = change = growth. Phases are natural. We all go through them and a phase can be as simple as a little girl not wanting to wear pink. The slutty phase, only wearing the color black phase, rebellion phase, lying phase, stealing phase, the mean girl phase, drug phase…etc

Phases, good or bad, get us a step closer to our true selves. Phases teach us right from wrong, who we want to be, and who we don't want to be. You can find yourself in a phase you don't want to be in that you consciously or subconsciously perpetuated. The good news is that all it takes is an awareness of not wanting to perpetuate that cycle anymore and then making a change however small or large you choose.

“If you give yourself 30 days to clean your home, it will take you 30 days. But if you give yourself 3 hours, it will take 3 hours. The same applies to your goals, ambitions, and potential” — Elon Musk

Life is a series of choices. You can move yourself to the next phase by simply choosing to do so — It’s a mindset.

Day to day evolution is commonplace. Phases can provide comfort when you are in them and discomfort when you are coming out of them. Nonetheless, phases are temporary and natural, just like life is.

My phases have gently redirected me to where I am today, and so have my choices. Don’t be afraid to make a change because it will, inevitably, catapult you to where you didn’t know you needed to be.

In the childhood game “The Game of Life” you spin to simulate a person’s travel through his or her life, from college to retirement, with jobs, marriage, and possible children along the way.

You can create your game of life with your own rules by following the voice inside of you. You can also destroy it with your mindset. Life is a game but it doesn’t always have to follow that path, that cycle, and that phase. You just have to learn how to play the game and chose the life you want.

Co-written by: me and my mom #W2W

#CGJDictionary