What does maturing and growing up mean to you? The widely agreed upon liberal definition of this is horrible so lets redefine this
I'm too young to say, but I feel like part of the answer is gaining perspective beyond oneself.
Someone here defined it as knowing when to follow authority, which I found a good one.
Things getting harder but being okay with it
wtf why is this 2x4 so small
When a sawmill cuts a log up into dimensional wood, they are cutting green, unseasoned wood. That means that the lumber has a higher moisture content.
During WWII, the war effort demanded large shipments of dimensional wood that was green and cut into specific sizes. That means that a 2×4 piece of lumber was cut at the sawmill from a green log, and measured 2” by 4” at the time of cutting.
However, as the wood dries out and cures, it shrinks. That means that the 2×4 cut green doesn’t meet the same dimensions after it’s cured due to shrinkage.
And that is still how we do things today.
Dimensional wood is cut green to the common dimensions we use today. When it is cured, it reaches the actual size. Lumber standards actually recognize both green and cured lumber, and have size.
we are now that much more mature for knowing this
Gonna say that "growing up" isnt a thing. We are all "children" in some ways and "adults" in others. Our growth is often nonlinear and we see "regression" all the time. We dont grow in the same directions either. Ive met people who arent even legally adults who have a better handle on some things than i do, and ive met people 30 years my senior who i have out-grown in some ways. The world is a cruel and traumatizing place, and it will determine how we have to grow. Our conditions will determine what we can learn, the best we can do is show up and learn it. Who is a grown up or who acts like a grown up will always be culturally determined, and therefore no absolute metric may ever be applied. The process of growing up will never be complete, and i will always be a so-called child in one way or another.
Tldr reject tradition embrace the constant struggle of personal growth free from cultural markers.
No idea cause im a baby. Goo goo gaga I say. Goo goo gaga
Frankly, I simply think that it means developing as a person in some profound way. That sounds vague, but it really depends on the person and is very dialectical. There are always contradictions and conflicts in a person and it takes maturity to resolve some of them. It requires someone to look at themselves deeply and deliberately improve themselves in some way, which is usually not easy. Each person will have a different struggle. That can be, for example, developing political consciousness, it could mean just becoming more empathetic, or someone that overcomes trauma. It could mean anything. I don't, however, mean someone no longer having the same hobbies as they had as a child. This is a naïve critique of a person that has no bearing upon their personal development, in my opinion. It doesn't necessarily have to do with how a person spends their time, but with how a person chooses to live their life and deciding the person they want to become. Someone developing some meaning to their lives that allows them to continue in existence beyond whatever childish ideas they initially had. That, to me, is someone 'growing up'. To put it more succinctly: the dialectically qualitative transition from childhood to adulthood in a person.
I have a best friend that regularly likes to say other people we know "haven't grown up" because, for example, they still play video games or watch anime or haven't bought a home or don't have a career. I also know he says this about me when I'm not around. Anyway, he owns some properties, has a pretty normal career, in a miserable relationship with a woman who rightfully doesn't trust him and is with him for his possessions. I could talk a lot of shit about him here, and I did, but I deleted it because it's besides the point. But the thing is that since he was a kid he was always a kind of money-hungry, ready to exploit anything, selfish, self-aggrandizing person. Despite external appearances, I do think he's honestly the least 'grown up' person I know because he hasn't developed in any way emotionally. He's really just like how he was when we were 14. I love him despite it but, even though he's 'accomplished' more than most have in our generation, he remains a child. I hope he has some major mid-life crisis because that would be an opportunity for growth but I kinda doubt it. I say this because that kind of external appearance truly has nothing to do with growing up.
I'm sure there's some diamat way to describe it. Adults are defined by not being children, children are defined by not being adults, but because they define each other they're in a dialectical relationship. There is a process where one transforms into the other over a process where quantity of time becomes quality of age, and after an even longer quantity of time it transforms again into a child-like end of life where we need to be cared for once again.
or something idk
I say you've grown up when people start looking to you for advice instead of the other way around.
It means learning to think things through instead of just reacting to emotions, IMO.
finding out that adults are just as dumb as me