Not this time, google. A while ago, I was thinking about maturity. What makes a person mature? Is it the way their body has developed (as defined by google), their depth and breadth of thought, their intelligence? On one of our road trips, I asked J if he considered me mature for my age (in a general sense). To my disappointment, he said no. I proceeded to question his evaluation. What was the basis of his judgement? He said it was because I am sheltered by my parents, which influences how I act and view the world. It means that I don't have to feel the pressure of needing to earn enough money to survive, buy a car, or pay HECS. I still work, but I've never felt like I needed to work a lot to keep myself going. It's true. It's true, the earlier you are exposed to lyf3, the earlier you start to mature. Also, because of my quiet personality, I'm not as inclined as others are to meeting new people and socialising. Being able to get along with others and immersing oneself into social situations exposes a person to circumstances which allow them to practice social skills such as reading emotions, social queues, greetings, knowing what to say at the right times, knowing when to stay silent, learning how to pair gestures with speech, being able to talk to different people of different ages etc.etc. Social skills can take you pretty far.
I asked my deep friend chibi about what he thinks. He came up with a pretty fine list of what he thinks makes a person mature.
- Control over their own emotions
- Consideration for others - placing others' interests above your own and not being afraid of being disadvantaged for the sake of helping others
- Able to give attention/time to people outside their significant other (related to point 2)
- Financially responsible, understands that money comes from hard work and doesn't go about wasting it
- Can acknowledge their weaknesses and displays intention/discipline to remedy/improve themselves
Pretty good, pretty good. J added that being able to care for yourself (chores, getting groceries.. or as OTs would call it, instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), cooking nutritious meals, looking after your body) is also a big one. He also said to be entrusted the care/safety of others is probably even more important. Another thing - being trustworthy and genuine is also a good one. I think doing things in moderation is also important - not underdoing or overdoing things and knowing when it's time to stop. There's probably more, but I'm eating dinner and I cbb writing more because there's nothing significant I want to say.
M-dragon outzzz
