Life Changing Cycles & Planning Long Term

One's life Cycle changes based on the years and based on how society has structured one's ability to provide for one's self and one's family.

When we reflect on our stages of life, we realize that as we grow in age, we also migrate from a protected state thru a breaking free state to a state of responsibilities to a state of maturity and new beginning and finally to a state of reflection and peace.

It is important to understand that the average person lives to the age of 73, and if you live that long, taking your life in segments, will allow you to organize your life, based on long term year planning, rather than living day to day wondering what to do about a situation that you find yourself in.

The Life Cycles, if understood, can help a parent to create a life plan for their children, or even help a 35 year old responsible and successful person to map out the next 45 years of life.

The Life Cycles:

Birth to 18 The Protection Years

The Child is born and protected until he/she graduates high school, and during those 18 years of life, the child has no need to make decisions because the parents will provide shelter, food, transportation and daily structured schedules. A Successful first 18 years is a person that has graduated high school, and has learned that his/her life's next 5 years will be the most significant years of his entire independent future, that is his/her to manage, with very little help from parents.

18 to 23 The Significant Years

The 5 Years of life that creates the foundation for each individual's entire future life. These 5 years are the years that a person should dedicate to learning a specific trade that will allow the individual to work in a area of expertise that can provide a living for the individual and his/her family.

If the individual's first 18 years were taken very seriously, regarding education, then these 5 years should focus on taking the education route by going to college and earning a college degree. However, remember that the college 5 years are the most fun years that you will ever experience, but, also the most important years because the degree that one chooses will provide the foundation for your next 22 years, which will include marrying and raising a family, so choose a degree in engineering or science to ensure that your next 22 years are comfortable. 

The realty is, getting a degree in basket weaving or computer science will take 4 to 5 years, so, choose well because basket weaving will not ensure as comfortable of a future as computer science. Be willing to work hard for 5 years to ensure that the next 22 years are wonderful and comfortable.

For those that didn't fare well in high school, I would highly recommend that you go into the military for 4 years, because the 4 years of military will provide un-equaled career focus training that will provide a great skill and discipline foundation for the next 23 years of your life.

23 - 45 The Family Years

The Family Years Cycle is the years that most people consider as the "Life" years.  Most people get married and have children, live a family life style which includes a home, school for children, children rearing and all the things that associates with a child raising.  The 22 Years of family life is a controlled life style with very little deviations in day to day events, which focuses on being a parent and providing a good home for children.

Realize that it is these 22 years of life that leads you into the new life cycle, so, if your focus in these 22 years is successful, you will have dedicated your 22 years to educating your children, preparing your children for their future by reinforcing what they learn in school each day, instilling values and convictions into their thought processes, and teaching that they are responsible for their day to day decisions once they move on to cycle two of their lives.

A Successful Family Years Cycle is provided by your children graduating at 18 or below, they have decided at least a year earlier to go to college and major in a specific field or decided to go into the military for a specific area of training.  The stronger the values and convictions that your graduating children have the greater the success of your parenting skills have proven to have been.

However, poor parenting will lead to uncertain children, mal behaved children, indecisive children, bullying children, children that are easily influenced, children that are more apt to blame others for what and where they are, and it's these types of children that lead to young adults who do not take the Significant Years seriously and ultimately struggle through their early 30s before they get it.

45 - 65 The New Beginning Years

For most people who have not learned the discipline of realizing that life has at least 25 more years, which is enough time to start all over a new..., here are the facts...., you have 25 more years of life left, you have no small children to manage, you are more patient and discipline enough to take on any educational challenge that you were unable to do at the age of 20, you are smarter and 10 times more savvy, and you can now look at the next 25 years as "Your Years".

The New Beginning Years are years that you now ought to approach as the 20 years that you want to take on as a challenge that you always dreamed of, meaning, you have thought about being a doctor, lawyer, engineer, scientist, owning your own business, or any specific type profession that you would have loved to take on somewhere in your past, but you were not able to take on those wishes due to finances, having a family, or simply wasn't sure of your ability to learn that stuff.

Well, 45 Years on earth have provided you with wisdom, savvy, discipline, experiences, decisiveness, maturity, confidence and willingness to learn. The Discipline to read a book to learn the information written in order to get close to a 100 on a test is now within your capabilities because you have life under your feet, and the desire to party is a secondary "want".

Thus, I call the years of 45 - 65 as the new beginning, because woman/men are freer to take control, and men/woman are freer to chase their recent or long past thoughts of possible dreams.  I would advise all in this stage to look at this cycle as the real years of life, in that, your children are young adults, and you are now ready to enjoy the next 20 without the thoughts of raising children or managing a house with children and children events.... you are free to schedule your life on things that you love to do.

65 - 90 The Years of Wisdom & Reflection

The Wisdom Years are years of comfort and enjoyment.  For some, it's this part of life that one feels a sense of comfort with what they have accomplish.  For some, it's this part of life that some feel a sense of even more freedom to travel and enjoy all the great scenery of what this earth have provided us for viewing. 

Yet, one must remember, technology and science has provided us with the type of life in these years that allow us to continue to enjoy life's challenges physically, in that, physical fitness and some stem cell research can prove to allow some humans to live upwards of 110 years comfortably. 

I haven't gotten to the 65th year yet, but, I look forward to it, because I fully intend to start a new 20 year adventure once I turn 65.

 

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