Photo by Denys Nevozhai

Originally Posted On: https://www.clichemag.com/lifestyle/healthy-living/prepping-for-every-stage-of-your-life/

 

Prepping for every stage of your life is not an easy task as there are a range of experiences that you can encounter in your life.  While these experiences will vary from person to person, you can expect that these experiences will greatly impact your life. As you grow older, you understand the need to be ready for whatever life throws at you, even if you find it difficult to predict what could come next.

As there are so many different stages in your life, it can feel overwhelming when you consider how to prepare for what comes next, but it’s still useful to have a general idea of what you can expect from each stage. Here are some of the critical issues you will face, and

Leaving School

Typically, there are two types of people—those who loved every moment of school and those who couldn’t wait for it to be over. Regardless of which category you fall into, the time where you leave school is one of the most exciting times of your whole life so far. It gives that first feeling of really growing up, but growing up means you must start making decisions.

These decisions include what you want to do next. Do you want to go to college or university? Do you want to go traveling? Is learning a trade something that interests you, especially with the allure of being your own boss? Are you not sure yet, and want to take a year out to travel and think about it?

It can be overwhelming for kids aged 16, 17, or 18 to know what they want to do, and making a decision now seems unfair. Still, you can have an idea of what you want to do next, to see if it works for you.

Embracing Freedom

No matter how well you get along with your family and enjoy living under their roof, everyone dreams of moving out and getting a place for their own. There are several ways that you can embrace this freedom. You move to university to get a degree somewhere on the other side of the country. You get a job and finally have the funds to pay rent. Or, you travel the world, sharing dorm rooms with a wide range of exciting people.

However, this freedom, while tasting sweet, can be dangerous. Too much freedom too soon can lead to mistakes. It’s important to embrace your freedom, but you should also know your limits. This is especially true when you are in a new environment. You are surrounded by people who don’t know you, and overdoing it in any way could cause problems for both you and them.

Fixing Finances

If you’re still in your twenties, you may be one of the 55% of millennial’s without proper savings. At its best, this helps you feel less alone in your financial uncertainties. However, it is still something that demands your attention.

Different stages of your life can hit you with more venom than you may expect, so fixing your finances is essential to being able to battle and overcome these unexpected problems. Whether medical bills, emergency repairs, or need a little financial security, budgets, and spending discipline are things that you will need to learn before you start thinking about starting a family or purchasing a house.

Focusing Your Career

You may go through several careers in your lifetime, which is especially true during your early years. Due to university, part-time work, and inconvenience, you will bounce between a range of roles, including fast-food, retail, or office administration, among a variety of others.

Even if you generally enjoy these jobs, they are not always something that everyone wants to do forever. But it can be too easy to get stuck in the routine of a job that is just fine. It puts food on the table. It isn’t too stressful, and you still get time to do what you love in between office hours. There may come a time, however, where you wish you had done more, so consider whether you can see yourself in this role forever, or if you want to test yourself in something else.

Someone To Spend Your Life With

Seeing people in your twenties and even your thirties can feel like a never-ending reel of disappointment. They are all either weirdos or think you’re a weirdo, and this makes it difficult to establish a proper connection.

But all of us, or at least most of us, need and want someone else to share our lives with. As much as you loathe the dating scene or Tinder, it is often necessary. However, there will be a time when you realize that you cannot deal with another drinks-and-karaoke-date ever again, and this will be the sign that it is time to settle down.

Are You Ready to Be a Parent?

Jumping from dating to parenthood may seem a little premature, but if you’re lucky and found someone who can put up with your nonsense unconditionally, then there will be a time where you may start thinking about having kids.

Let us be straight: no one is ever prepared to have kids. Even if it’s something you’ve always wanted, the reality is much more of a challenge than you expected. Because of this, it’s vital to ensure that you have other aspects of your life in order before having kids. Ensure you are financially stable, have enough space to raise the child, and are both emotionally and physically ready to be parents. It won’t be easy, but this should make parenthood a little easier.

Feeling Fulfilled

Doing the same thing year on year on year will get monotonous at some point during your life. This can lead to feelings of fulfillment, or rather a lack of accomplishment that can have severe effects on your mental health and self-esteem.

Whether its feeling fulfilled in your career or your experiences, you must find something that can change this. Otherwise, you end up feeling resentful towards yourself and everyone else around you, blaming them for your lack of success.

This can lead to toxic relationships that nobody deserves, so find ways to feel fulfilled and take every opportunity you can.

Keeping Busy

Many people will wait eagerly for retirement. After 40 or 50 years of work, you finally get the chance to put your feet up and relax. However, not everybody takes to retirement the way that others do. While many people are content to do nothing, other people struggle to sit still for even a few minutes.

It’s useful, then, to start to prepare for your retirement as early as possible. Consider what you may want to do when you have all of the time in the world. Some people go for property ownership and even renovation that will keep them busy. Others look towards hobbies that can give them a distraction from the endless days of having nothing to do.

You may not find what you’re looking for straight away, but giving yourself a solid base to build your retirement activity will help you transition from work to freedom and provide you with something to keep you busy.

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye is not something that everybody is always comfortable talking or even thinking about. But it is a part of life that is unavoidable. Whether you say goodbye to your grandparents, parents, pets, friends, siblings, or partner, it’s essential to be as prepared as possible.

While you can never really be prepared for saying goodbye, you can have a plan in place when it happens. Knowing where to find and purchase headstones and gravestones by Memorials.com, as well as understanding the funeral needs of the person, will help you to manage those tricky first few days with more confidence. While it will still, undoubtedly, be difficult, it can help ground you and everyone else so you can manage the pain more comfortably.

Unpredictability

There are many things that you can expect from different stages of your life. Still, if there is one thing that is more constant and predictable than anything else, it is the sheer unpredictability of life, and this is something else that you can prepare yourself for.

You could have y6our entire life planned out from leaving school to your last breath, but life doesn’t work like that/ what could be better and more successful for you is to accept that preparing for each stage of your life is not possible. Instead, please do what you can every day to ensure a comfortable and happy life full of experiences, and take whatever comes at you on the chin, overcoming it your way.

Every Possible Scenario

At each stage in your life, you will be a different person than you were the last time. This may sound scary right now, but the more you learn, experience, and grow, the better you will be at accepting who you are. Because of this, you will be equipped to overcome each challenge you encounter sleekly, and you’ll be able to do so with the confidence of someone who has come prepared.