Which of these Stages of Awareness are YOU at in Your Life?

Sometimes I sit back and think about life; about my past, and the choices I’ve made. I smile when I remember the plans I had when I was young, and how with each year, those plans seem to change more and more.

It’s not that I couldn’t ever decide what I wanted in life; it’s just that as circumstances change over the years, you find that your priorities change too.

I’ll never forget something I read in a magazine that talked about life and the stages that universally, we all go through. The article said that mankind basically goes through 3 stages in life, and I thought about it, and discovered it was true. Allow me to share them with you.

Here ae the stages I remember reading about

Stage 1 — Self awareness

This is the stage where we concentrate on ourselves, as an individual. Typically, it is the first part of our lives, from birth to young adulthood, before we have families of our own.

That is not to say that we don’t care about anyone else, because friends and family are important, but in reality, there importance is in relation to us. In other words, their relevancy is based on how important they are to us, and not necessarily on how important they are as an individual.

Some of you readers may be thinking that this sounds kind of selfish, but it is not “selfish”, although it is a bit “self-centered” of us, and there is a difference. Selfish people don’t share or think of others at all, whereas, self-centered people simply tend to think of themselves first, before they think of others.

We may not like it, but this is actually human nature, and common to all of us. Of course lots of people break out of a mold. So with any rule, there is always an exception, even regarding the laws of self-awareness.

Stage 2 — Family Awareness

If the first stage of “self-awareness” seemed selfish or self-centered, you can start feeling a little better about yourself when we consider Stage 2: Family-awareness.

In this particular stage of life, we have managed to create or obtain our own families, whether it be via marriage, with the house and the kids, or some other type of modern-day family arrangement (couples with kids, couples without kids, same sex couples, roommates and lifelong friends, etc.).

As you can see, at this stage of life, we have extended our perimeter of interest and caring, to make room for those not a part of our original circle of trust. At this stage, family includes those individuals that we are now willing to divert our focus to.

Typically, at this stage in life, when it comes to family, no longer are we willing to put ourselves first. While this type of love and devotion will usually last indefinitely, for most people, it is not enough to substitute for that final stage in our lives.

Stage 3 — Community Awareness

There comes a time in everyone’s life; once they start to get “up in years” that they start truly caring about their community. This can be manifested in a number of different ways, such as volunteering and joining groups, signing up for committees, or even simply going to their place of worship a whole lot more.

These and other activities typically become more important to people as they get older in life. They may have adult children and family members that are suddenly not as reliant on them anymore.

Not only is there a need to continue nurturing and protecting something or someone, but the desire to belong and feel needed is just as important in this final stage of your life.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Nowadays, as I finally enjoy my life and enjoy living in my own skin, at various moments, I kind of feel like I’m going through all the phases again.

I still spend a lot of time thinking about my own self growth, but I also watch and stay plugged into the youth around me and try to be a decent example to those who might be watching.

As for my neighborhood and community involvement; I may not get involved in the way that I should, but I do what I can to help those I see in need.

Each day, I care more and more about the environment and social injustice, but I try not to spend my days worrying excessively. I do what I can, and I keep it pushing.

I wonder what they call that stage of life???

******************************************************

FOLLOW JUSTISS GOODE FOR MORE SELF AWARENESS, ADVICE, AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR STORIES. HELP IMPROVE YOUR PSYCHE - Enjoy a little bit of Justiss every day :-)