growing up.. rambling

[Catrin]

So what.... if someone doesn't want to conform to another person's idea of what it means to be "grown up"... You don't have to like everyone - let them be little boys/girls forever if they want to be.

This is an interesting discussion. What it means to be "grown up" appears to be changing - and that happens. What I find more interesting is this idea that to be "grown up" = is to be boring and frozen at a certain level of development. I do not think that has ever been the case but it appears to be a common perception of what it means to be "adult".

Given that is the current perception of what it means to be "grown up" it is understandable that people rail against it. To be an adult, at least to me, is to take responsibility for both physical and spiritual development - they can't be separated and I think we get in trouble when we do separate them. Certainly there must be a balance in all things, and as a single 51 year old woman, what might be a responsible choice for me might be an irresponsible choice for a 25 year old mother with partner and children - it all has to be in context and it seems that in many cases that is what is lacking - that context.

I don't understand why/how certain activities, such as cycling/rock climbing/whatever appear to be considered for a certain age group only. Obviously we (TE members) do not buy into that

It is all about choices and what matters most to us. For some of is it is most important to be in a certain income bracket - and for some of us it is not - but our health and physical condition play such a key role in our interior development, emotional/mental health and how we interact with the world around us that it is just too important to neglect. Of course, this is coming from someone who has made that mistake for much of her adult life