All of us move through life in stages, with plenty of profound changes along the way. Although our experiences may differ from infancy to puberty, adolescence to middle age and beyond, our physical aging process follows a pattern as old as time.
Other events are more individual: getting married, having children, choosing to retire, becoming a grandparent. These milestones are common but not universal, and each one happens on a personal timeline.
Each new stage of our life adds a new thread to the tapestry of our unique stories. Even as we stand firmly in one season of life, confident in who we are and the choices we’ve made, we cannot be certain about what comes next.
Eleanor Roosevelt once wrote, “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.” No matter how well we plan our future, we sometimes find ourselves on new paths we never could have imagined. From the blossoming sense of self that comes with young adulthood to the enlightenment we may find in retirement, these quotes offer insight and wisdom for every stage of this wondrous thing called life.
Adolescence
Adolescence has such a negative connotation and it shouldn’t. It’s experimentation, it’s being unsure, no preconceived notions.Mary Tyler Moore
Young Adulthood
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.E.E. Cummings
Newlywed
When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.Nora Ephron
New Parenthood
When people ask me what it’s like to be a parent, I say that it’s among the hardest things you’ll ever do, but in exchange, it teaches you the meaning of unconditional love.Nicholas Sparks
Middle Age
Midlife is about surrendering things that no longer matter, not because our lives are in decline but because they’re on an incline. Traveling upward, we simply let go of some baggage.Marianne Williamson
Empty Nester
It’s not only children who grow. Parents do, too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.Joyce Maynard
Grandparenthood
Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.Alex Haley
Retirement
Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.Fred Rogers
Featured image credit: Peter Jones/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images
