"Life is full of misery, loneliness, and suffering, and it's all over much too
soon."
-Woody Allen
Once we've experienced all of the cognitive and hormonal changes that childhood throws at us, we are left with the possibility that is the rest of our lives. This is where adult development begins. And it doesn't work quite like the early years. There are no expected stages or ideal time frames. No specific tasks that are supposed to occur for all people at the same time. There is only our needs, interests, and perspectives of the current moment. And yet, adult development is not entirely chaotic. In a broad sense, everything we work on as adults is in response to the same human challenges that all human beings face. These are the existential concerns of death, isolation, meaninglessness, and freedom (for more on these concerns, be sure to read the work of Irvin Yalom). Our engagement with these concerns can lead us to either greater states of development or deeper levels of maladaption.
Click on each of the four universal concerns below to learn a little bit more about adult existential development...
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| Isolation This is the area of adult development that concerns our ability to relate with family, friends, and coworkers, as well as our confidence in and comfort with ourselves. |
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| Death This area of development concerns our acceptance of pain, aging and death, and our ability to cope with loss. |
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| Meaninglessness This area of development concerns our pursuit of meaning through things like spirituality, education, art, career, science, philosophy, and pretty much everything else. |
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| Freedom This area of development concerns our ability to foster a sense of control and responsibility over our lives. |
