Many years ago Ann Landers posted an article entitled “Maturity.” Here is the repost.
Maturity
Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence.
Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of a long-term gain.
Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging setbacks.
Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.
Maturity is being big enough to say “I was wrong” and when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying “I told you so.”
Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities and then do nothing.
Maturity means dependability, keeping one’s word and coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are the confused and the conflicted. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business and good intentions that somehow never materialize.
Maturity is the art of living in peace with what we cannot change, the courage to change what should be changed and the wisdom to know the difference.
She may be right but there is that saying that “Hard work pays off in the future but laziness pays off now.” And that most tend to take the path of least resistance. That was never the case for me. As someone who was oversensitive, which helps me as an artist, I spent most of my life outside my comfort zone. I can’t say I ever got used to it. After hitting menopause, I began to find others almost intolerable. I began to lose patience with the simplest of tasks and felt very irritable most of the time. I became weepy and my moods swung all over the place, when I was normally very stoic, straight and narrow. I had no problem following orders to the letter and now felt angry and agitated when anyone told me what to do.
For me menopause was a little like going insane. Losing my mind because who I became was not who I was most of my adult life. According to Ann Landers, who was Dear Abby’s sister, I was no longer mature. I used to have most of those traits, but found it next to impossible to feel calm anymore and instead grew in my frustration over the smallest of problems. My health has improved by using a natural progesterone cream that was not endorsed by my Doctor. Most of them do not believe in any hormone replacements anymore even though most women who use them do feel better.
Having this happen to me showed me how some people feel their entire lives depending on who they are and what is happening in their hormones or brains. So many that are lucky or blessed to be healthy and stable are so quick to decide what is the norm for the rest of the world. I no longer feel that smug and sure of what exactly is immature for one person and mature for another since there are so many variables. I am certain that we all have to behave in a manner that is not dangerous or offensive to ourselves or our fellow-man.
Hence the following of the Golden Rule.
