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Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life

Book by Gail Sheehy · 14 quotes · Age, Growth, Passages

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Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life Quotes

“As we reach midlife in the middle thirties or early forties, we are not prepared for the idea that time can run out on us, or for the startling truth that if we don't hurry to pursue our own definition of a meaningful existence, life can become a repetition of trivial maintenance duties.”

IfsIdeasRunningAgeExistenceMiddleDutyPreparedDefinitionsMeaningfulPursueFortyRepetitionMiddle AgesMaintenanceMidlife
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“The work of adult life is not easy. As in childhood, each step presents not only new tasks of development but requires a letting go of the techniques that worked before. With each passage some magic must be given up, some cherished illusion of safety and comfortably familiar sense of self must be cast off, to allow for the greater expansion of our distinctiveness.”

SelfLife IsGivenEasyStepsGreaterMagicChildhoodDevelopmentLetting GoIllusionAdultsTasksSafetyCastsTechniqueFamiliarPassagesExpansionGiven UpSense Of SelfLife Is Not Easy
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“We must be willing to change chairs if we want to grow. There is no permanent compatibility between a chair and a person. And there is no one right chair. What is right at one stage may be restricting at another or too soft. During the passage from one stage to another, we will be between two chairs. Wobbling no doubt, but developing.”

IfsWantMayPersonsTwoGrowsGrowing UpDoubtStageWillingDevelopingPermanentNo DoubtChairsPassagesCompatibilityWilling To Change
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“If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we are not really living. Growth demands a temporary surrender of security. It may mean a giving up of familiar but limiting patterns, safe but unrewarding work, values no longer believed in, relationships that have lost their meaning. As Dostoevsky put it, "Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most." The real fear should be of the opposite course.”

GrowthAnxietyMeaningSelf Development
Book:Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life
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