Maturity Is Earned Through Experience, Not Age

We often hear the phrase "age is just a number" in different conversations, but not everyone understands what it truly means. In my opinion, when they say "age is just a number," I believe they're saying one's age doesn't necessarily determine who we are, how we live our lives, or what we do. Basically, it means that maturity, love, ability, endurance, passion, and the like are not tied to how old someone is. In this article I'd be focusing on the maturity aspect of these, using a personal experience of someone I met who made me believe that in truth age is just a number.

A lot of people have the belief that the older you are, the wiser you'll be and the more mature you'll behave; however, a few sets of people have made us doubt that belief, and I'm certain that's why the phrase "age is just a number" was born, because we've got people out there who'll behave in a manner that'll make you begin to doubt their age. Either someone younger did something mind-blowing that only adults are expected to do, or an adult does something ridiculous that you'll only expect to be done by a child or young people.

My understanding about life is that being older doesn't mean we're wise and will be responsible, and neither does being young mean we'll be childish or immature, because I've come to understand that maturity isn't inspired by how old we are but by the numerous experiences we've had, our mindset, and our emotional growth.

Take for instance, when I was much younger, we used to have a co-tenant in our house, and this man used to see a lot of money from his business. He was into building and selling land, and every time he sold a piece of land, he'd just call his wife to cook the best meal possible with a lot of meat and fish, and then he'd go to a beer parlor and drink himself into a stupor. After about a week of spending all that he earned from that sale, he'd go back to being broke and depend on his wife to save the family from his reckless spending.

Being an adult and a father of three, one would expect him to be mature enough to know how to manage money and take proactive acts that help sustain his family beyond the present, but his behavior is more like that of a child whom the elders in our place would say uses the first money that he earns to buy snacks. That's typically what he does, but not just for the first money, but every time he earns, and no matter how much you advise him, he won't yield.

How can you inherit acres of land from your father, and rather than put it to good use, you're just selling and spending lavishly on unnecessary items, rather than making the most of it so you can have something tangible to leave back for your kids when you're gone, just like your dad did for you? Unfortunately for him, he didn't learn any change from his ways until he sold all the land; he didn't even keep any for himself or build a house he can call his own, and at the end of the day, after a couple of years, he was chased out of the house by our landlord because he hadn't been paying his rent for months. An adult is supposed to be mature enough to take responsibility in every aspect and be mature enough to take the right decision, but this man's behavior is nothing short of astonishing childish behavior despite his age.

So overall, in my opinion, maturity has to do with character and not age, which shows that how much wiser we are and how far we grow are a result of our choices and not gotten automatically by how old we are.

All photos are mine.