There are so many times in life when issues come up.  If you think about the different stages of life, you also think about the different issues at the different stages of life.  As a child, your issues may be related to feeling powerless.  In your 20s, it may be about trying to find a path and a purpose.  As you get older, it may be more about managing a family and a career.  Around your fifties, it may shift to managing the empty nest or even being single again due to a loss or divorce. As aging continues to happen, it may shift to finances and retirement.  Along the way, it can shift to health issues, and even later, preparing for death.  No matter where you are in the stages of life, please know that some feelings and struggles are normal and expected.  They can also be overcome, so you can be happy.

Talking and working with children and teens, and being one myself in the past, it’s hard to watch kids go through life stages growing up.  At birth, children are totally dependent on others for food, shelter, love and comfort.  They must rely on parents and others to meet their needs.  They grow and discover their bodies, and things in their environment.  They learn to roll over, talk, and so much more.   As they grow, children go through growing pains as they learn how to manage their environment. Then they end up in school.

As children enter school, they end up in a whole new situation that is confusing and frustrating.  They have to learn to manage adults outside the family, new children, and homework.  They are forced to “play” with kids on the playground, deal with deadlines related to homework, and sit for long periods of time without making a fuss.  They have to manage relationships with children with all different kinds of backgrounds, from stable backgrounds to family chaos.  They learn words that their parents may not want them to learn, and they have to learn all kinds of lessons from math and reading to science and athletics.  Starting school is hard for kids to manage at times, but it only gets worse.

As kids move on to middle school and high school, friendships change, school schedules change, and their bodies change.  They have to manage multiple teachers through the year, some easier than others.  They grow hair in odd places and hormones start to flow, making things confusing and frustrating.  They have to figure out how to manage grades and friends, and at the same time make decisions about their future they may not be ready to make.   They get an incredible amount of pressure to pass classes by the end, get the credits they need, and graduate from high school.  If they do well in school, things are a bit easier, but if they struggle with grades, things are just that much worse.  All of this, with little power over where they live, how they live, and who they live with.

Growing up isn’t easy for anyone, but it’s harder when you have little power to make decisions.  So many times, kids are forced to move away from friends and loved ones, and others wish they were living in different places, possibly closer to family.  Growing up comes with so many issues, but childhood is a tough time.  Some kids make it through with lots of anxiety, and others emerge with confidence.  No matter how they emerge, they move on to the next stage.  Young adults take what they learned in childhood to the next phase and put it to use in the hopes that they can find a way to be happy, for life.