Translated by AI

We Have Never Truly Become Adults, Just Coordinating Among Different Versions of Ourselves

Upon reaching a certain age, you often hear, "You're already an adult." This statement sounds like an official announcement, as if merely reaching a certain number would automatically equip one with maturity, responsibility, or rationality, but real life has no such clear demarcation.

Feeling panicked at work, wanting to run away from relationships, feeling like crying under pressure... these reactions frequently appear among so-called "adults." This realization makes one aware that becoming an adult doesn't have a fixed timestamp; it's more like a state of continuous adjustment.

Multiple Versions of Ourselves Have Always Been in Operation

From the perspective of life interns, growth is not unidirectional but an overlap of multiple stages. Each age-layered self remains within, forming your current reactions and choices.

For example:

• 5-year-old me: Sensitive, guided by intuition.
• 17-year-old me: Aspires to explore the world, accustomed to tugging against norms.
• 30-year-old me: Starts taking responsibility, yet wavers between ideals and reality.
• 55-year-old me: Possesses broader perspectives, knows how to weigh importance.

These layers coexist. In daily life, sometimes it's the adolescent layer driving you, sometimes it's the child layer fearing, sometimes the young adult layer pops out to handle reality, and sometimes the older layer suddenly offers calm judgment. No version truly exits or evolves; together, they form "who I am now."

Where Does the Feeling of "Not Mature Enough" Come From?

Sometimes, under stress, a thought crosses your mind: "How can I still be like this at my age?" This feeling metaphorically suggests an internal gap — society tells us adults should be stable, directed, capable of handling everything, but in reality, that's not always the case.

These voices aren't chaotic but rather represent past stages' experiences expressing themselves. Sometimes reminding you to be cautious, sometimes urging you to take risks, sometimes hoping for rest. When there are too many internal versions, tension naturally arises, easily misinterpreted as immaturity. But from life's internship perspective, these tensions actually display our ongoing integration. Growth has no set answers; everyone coordinates their various stages at their own pace.

Adult Is Just an Outfit; Inside Reside Many Versions of Us

In the first half of our lives, we need to learn socialization: how to speak, how to act, how to adjust to fit the environment. This forms the "adult appearance," like a convenient-to-use interface. The surface helps us operate externally, but doesn't erase the early versions within, where genuine reactions and emotions emerge from these internal voices.

Some people seem calm on the surface, yet retain youthful passion underneath; some look strong in crowds, but privately need understanding. These forms do not conflict; together, they compose the true state of adulthood.

A Self in Transition Is Already Sufficiently Complete

"Adult" shouldn't be a singular, flat role but a process of multi-role coexistence. The experience of growth resembles continuous software updates: fixing bugs, adding features, deleting unnecessary things. The process includes getting stuck, anxiety, progress, and resetting at times.

There is no fixed version of adulthood. We naturally consist of different stages of ourselves; those tensions, doubts, and repetitions make life more three-dimensional and complete.