When I was a child, my parents taught me that maturity is one of the most important factors that make a person capable of taking the right decision for himself taking into consideration the persisting situation. So I always wanted to know and had a strong inquisitiveness towards the fact that when do people mature, as I always thought that once I get so-called ‘mature’, I would be able to have coffee like my parents. Well that was just a childish thought and when I grew up I came to know the exact meaning of the word and the responsibility associated with it.
When I started my MBA and I came to USA to pursue my dream, I was at first baffled up by the fast life people have here. I thought that people here do not like to talk to each other, but then soon I realized that the life here is so busy that people hardly have time to talk. But whenever I get the chance of talking to my American friends, irrespective of their age they sound so mature and independent, and these two factors have always been a source of motivation for me.
Everything was going on smoothly as per my pre-established thought process, until recently when I was coming out of my class, I overheard some people comparing maturity with age. According to the discussion, maturity is directly related to how old are you and how much have you worked before. As I was walking back to my hostel, although I was trying to keep my thoughts away from this issue, I could not do that. This whole fact was contradicting with my 22 years of learning from all sources about – ‘maturity’. After fighting with myself for quite sometime, I concluded that whatever I have learned till now, I feel is right.
Maturity in my opinion is a stage, which you achieve when you start thinking rationally. To think rationally you don’t have cross a benchmark of your aging process, nor do you have to work before to get mature. When you can make a clear demarcation between the right and the wrong, and take your steps towards what you believe to be right, is what I term as maturity. When you can respect your fellow people and talk to them in a manner so that they feel that they can connect with you, is what I termed as a mature behavior. When you can think in a manner that you are good, and the others are good too, and for that you don’t suffer from any sort of inferiority complex nor do you feel that you are superior, is what I term as a mature thinking process. When people shout at you and insult you, but you still keep your calm and don’t shout at them back and try to handle the situation in a better way, is what I term as a mature management process. When you hear many different things from different sources, but do not form any opinion about anything without prior self-verification, is what I term as a mature listening process. When you can encourage people and feel happy for their achievements, and you don’t compare yourself with them, is what I term as a mature personality. And when you can commemorate all the above listed traits in yourself and exhibit these qualities when needed, then you are a mature person.
Believe me to see these traits in you, you don’t have to cross a certain age bar, or a certain level of your professional career. To be mature you just have to be YOU and keep your mind and soul open to learn from your surroundings. Learning is a continuous process and you can learn even from a child. By doing so, eventually you will see that you are becoming more and more mature in the whole process.
(Disclaimer: This piece is purely based on the author’s viewpoint on maturity and this piece does not challenge the perspective of any person living or dead).
Arnab Pandey 