Levinson did a research study in the '70s and found that peoples' lives are like seasons. all stages have their place and no one is better than another.
he said that every lifetime has 3 eras (after childhood): early adulthood, middle adulthood & late adulthood.
within each of these eras were periods and transitions. the transitions between eras were big "cross-era" transitions, lasting ~5 yrs, and a source of turmoil and confusion. the transitions between periods were small.
just before early adulthood comes a cross-era transition when you're half child/half adult (~17-22 yrs) where you're trying to gain independence.
as you enter early adulthood there's a calm period, the novice period (~22-28 yrs) where you develop dreams and have mentors. then there's a small transition (~28-33 yrs) where you question if you're heading in the right direction, which is followed by another calm period he called "calmination".
before you enter the second era of middle adulthood, there's another cross-era transition which causes the mid-life crisis (~40-45 yrs).
this pattern continues into late adulthood, where there are periods of self-reflection and coming to terms with dying.
alhtough this is just one man's theory and has many criticisms, as do many theories, i can honestly say that i've been through the first periods of early adulthood. i had that novice period, where i formed my dreams, and then the small transition where i questioned whether i was headed in the right direction. and i answered it. and did something about it.
if this psychologist is on the right track, i am still in that small transition, and just as i graduate, i'll be headed into my period of calmination.
interesting.
Music to my ears: tool - lateralus
In reality: Neanderthals and humans lived side by side
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