Maturity is a hard concept to understand no matter what age you are. It is a distinct feature that is easily distinguished in a person, but is also just as hard to realize in yourself. We all think we mature as we age, but rarely is this the case. Age and maturity are not necessarily compliments. One is a constant reminder of time that continues to move without any need to adapt to one’s plans. The other is a state of mind, an adjective that describes a humanistic characteristic.
   
 It is hard to realize the actual act of maturing. When a person is in the process of maturing, it is hard to pinpoint the time or date when the change started. Inevitably, the easiest point of realization is when people just understand that they have become different people. They have slowly grown apart to achieve different dreams and different aspirations. Life has dealt the two people completely different hands that no longer compliment each other like a perfect hand of Spades. It is that dreaded break-up quote: “We are just two different people now.”
    
I have found that maturing is one of the hardest evolutions known to man. Rarely is maturity gained at the same speed as anyone else around you. Maturity causes loss of friends. Maturity causes strains on relationships. Maturity is a complex entity that leaves no room for stable ground because as one moves toward it, so much of what is around the individual stays stagnant. It is with this realization that you are moving while others are not that is so daunting and brings many people back down to their original state.
    
Maturity is like boarding a train with a one-way ticket. You do not know if the train is a high-speed bullet train or a train that will mosey along around the countryside. You do not know if the track is straight to the destination, or if there are mountains and valleys that have to be traversed. Sometimes you find yourself waking up on the train without getting the chance to tell all the people you love good-bye. Other times, the train will slowly pull out of the station and you will get the chance to wave bye to the passersby and friends alike with the absolute knowledge that you will not be seeing them for a long time.
    
We all bask in the thought that we are becoming more mature individuals. It is one of the many emotions and developments that can change an entire lifetime, and at the same time, is one of the most profound realizations. Maturity is moving forward. Society has deemed it as such. As we move toward graduation and jobs, these are also characteristics of moving forward, but our adult actions do not mark true maturity. Rather, these adult actions are just steps toward our inevitable destinies. Maturity is more than just pretending to be an adult. It is incorporating life lessons, knowledge and wisdom to propel ourselves to a new point. These life lessons change lifetimes and change dreams. They change the people around you and so drastically change the individual who is maturing.
    
Age and maturity will always be distinctly different. The actions of an 8-year-old can be astonishingly mature, and the actions of a 27-year-old can be the exact opposite. There is no precise time frame within which one takes these steps forward. At times, we do not even have the luxury of getting to take the steps at a specific, desired time. It is almost exclusively in times of trouble that maturation occurs, but it is in these times that maturity is the most daunting plan of action.
   
 In the end, maturity means doing things that you know are good for yourself without anybody’s guidance or pressure. It is stepping back from a situation to really understand every side and learn to mold the answers to fit all those involved. It, perhaps, does not always mean doing the morally right thing, but turning to the answers that can be found in the wisdom life has taught you, and using life’s lessons as a basic map and guide to life’s most complex situations.


— Brittany Vasquez is a senior in anthropology. She can be reached at bvasque1@utk.edu.