Stage of Life

Throughout our lifetime, there are many stages of life where we experience challenges, adaptation and growth. Often times, in the midst of our struggles, we may find it difficult to see a way through it, yet if we look back, we might be pleasantly surprised by the tenacity, resourcefulness and perseverance we displayed.

Each stage of life is often accompanied by various stressors that can be common experiences for many of the population. For teens going through academic stress, exploring self-identity; feeling controlled in life, and navigating connections with others. For young adults finding their place in the vast world. For adults blossoming in their careers or starting a family. For ‘middle-aged’ adults struggling with a sense of not being where they expected in life, grieving over the passing of their parents, or feeling they miss the days of their youth and are feeling trapped. For retirees and seniors finding they have so much time to do what they want, but may start off not knowing how to fill that time or feeling isolated from their support networks and fearing health complications. These are just a few examples of how various life stages can have their own challenges. For many of the clients I have spoken to over the years, these are common challenges that many share, although these experiences are not necessarily unique only to these stages of life.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many of these common experiences also have common impacts and outcomes, such as performance anxiety or conflict with authority in teens; or impatience and frustration displayed by adults who feel trapped in the repetitiveness of everyday responsibility they feel they cannot escape. Although common in society, these emotions and internal struggles can be very disruptive and detrimental in everyday life if we have yet to find sufficient helpful strategies to cope. For many, turning to unhealthy or unsustainable coping mechanisms may be the only strategy they’ve had for a while.

It can be powerful to recognise that we are not alone in the struggles we face, that we are not outside the norm. In normalising and accepting our struggles, it allows us to start tackling it as something more tangible, something we can process. In fact, it is primarily in reflecting and recognising why we’re feeling the way we are, that we can truly implement meaningful change.

Since the start of my counselling career in 2014, I have had the privilege of working with youth between 11-18 years of age within secondary education settings (High School); young adults in tertiary education settings (local and international focused Tafes); and private settings through Australia’s leading EAP provider delivering counselling services to clients aged 15 to 80 across all walks of life. It has been an honour to be allowed into their lives and support them through their challenging times. From my experiences as a cousnellor, a consistent theme presented throughout all stages of life often circles back to challenging clients on how they promote self-care especially when facing adversity in life.

How do you process the everyday stressors in your life?

Please contact me if any of this has piqued your interest and you might be interested in exploring these concepts further.