Are you mature enough in all aspects?

‘You are immature’; ‘Anger is a sign of immaturity’. The word ‘maturity’ is loosely used by all and sundry.

But what exactly does it mean? Is maturity just a process of ageing or growing up?

Growing mature is a lifelong process. At no stage can anyone stand up and say that he is fully mature. Growth and development goes on as long as the person tries to improve. Maturity is indicative of one’s readiness to share adult experiences, privileges and responsibilities.

Your celebration of birthday in a way marks a step towards maturity but it does not mean that you are really mature. There are different aspects of maturity.

1) Chronological (number of birthdays you have celebrated)
2) Physical (proper growth of your body)
3) Intellectual (how mature your thinking is)
4) Emotional (feelings and how they are expressed)
5) Social (relationships with other people)
6) Philosophical (Beliefs, ideals, purposes, morality and values.

Chronological Maturity: 

You can count exactly how old you are in the form of years, months and days. Every year you will be one year older than what you are now. If you are two years older than your brother, you will continue to be two years older to him for the whole life. The chronological order does not change. You cannot hurry it up or slow it down.

However, chronological maturity is important in some respects e.g. getting the right to vote, inheriting property, obtaining driving license, getting married, opening a saving account in the post office or a bank.

Physical Maturity: 

A person is said to gain physical maturity when he/she has obtained his full height, weight and strength. If one keeps on gaining stature year after year, one is said to be growing and cannot be called a physically mature person. As soon as one stops growing taller and filling out in body one is close to maturity. The person becomes strong enough to do an adult’s work without feeling tired. The glands too begin to function like those of the adults.

There are higher expectations from physically well developed boys and girls than their smaller counterparts. Sports, games, outings, jobs and even relationships within the family and outside depends to a certain extent on how physically well developed you are. Proper nutrition and physical exercises can help, but cannot altogether change the pattern of physical growth. There are other phases of maturity which are also equally important.

Intellectual maturity:

It is difficult to measure the intellectual maturity of a person as there is no common agreement as to what it involves. However it can be thought of in the following manner:
1) Intellectual maturity means that a person handles and understands the language of words, figures, and signs or symbols in accordance to one’s culture.
2) An intellectually mature person takes his/her own decisions and does not wait for advice or prompting from others. The more independently one takes decisions, the more one is supposed to be intellectually mature.

3) A person can be considered intellectually mature if he/she is able to look at his/her problems impartially and objectively.
4) If one makes a mistake and accepts it, one is more mature than those who shift their responsibilities onto others.
5) If one makes hasty judgments, one is still like an immature child who makes moves without weighing the pros and cons.
6) A person is intellectually mature if one can reserve one’s judgment till one has considered the pros and cons of the problem and knows what is actually involved and what needs to be done in the problem. Intellectual maturity is very much related to one’s emotional maturity.

Emotional maturity:

Losing the temper and feeling very much annoyed when things don’t go the way one desires is very common among human beings. This is due to lack of emotional maturity. Children of such parents who do not get easily disturbed and upset, tend to be emotionally mature. An emotionally mature person will restrain himself/herself and will not be easily disturbed by his/her immediate impulses.

There are some feelings which you accept but would like to keep to yourself while there are some which you express and share with others. Such a control on one’s emotions is not learnt in a day or a two. You slowly learn to have more and more control on yourself. Emotional maturity helps to achieve an attractive and charming personality and makes one a socially acceptable person.

Social maturity: 

Social maturity measures your ability to get along with people. As you grow up from an infant to a child, then from an adolescent to an adult, your spheres of social relationships and activities keep on enlarging. As you grow up, you need more and more people of various kinds in your life. Social maturity is gradually learned as you learn to live in a world full of people. Social maturity is a very difficult area of growth. It is neither predictable nor regular. It is not e same all the time with all the people. Your success, popularity and satisfaction to a great extent depends upon how you get along with the people around you.
 

Philosophical maturity:

Every human being has a philosophy of life which includes long term values, aiming goals worth striving for, making true friends and having a dedication and mission in life. One cannot become mature until one has a good workable philosophy of life.

Philosophy of life depends upon the customs and values of the people in the family, religion, community etc. The teachings of your religion set a goal before you. The great noble ideas and thoughts and the great sacrifices of great men have always moulded the philosophy of life of many.

It is important to maintain good physical, mental, emotional and social health. An all-round maturity helps in keeping balance in present as well as the future life.

So are you mature at least in some of the aspects mentioned above? Also which type of maturity is more pronounced in you? And on which type of maturity would like to work upon? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

(Contributed by R.Singh)


See also: Self-esteem- Why is it so important? / Test your level of self-esteem/Concentration/Cultivating Quality Time /The art of listening / Tips to beat stress
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