Life Events Checklist
Everything happens to everybody sooner or
later if there is time enough.
- George Bernard Shaw
Common Events In Modern Life
Do you think life is unpredictable? Is your future still a mystery to you?
Although people believe that life is a random mix of life events, there is a pattern to how your life unfolds. And although you may not be able to change the major life events you will live through ... you can influence them.
You may not be able to predict when -- but just about everybody falls in love, has their heart broken, gets betrayed by a best friend, learns to drive, comes close to being fired, and has a close call with death.
Events & Their Ripples
If you allow your fate to unfold, every event will have a ripple effect on the rest of your life. For instance, get married and your life will be filled with anniversaries and compromises. Have kids and your life will be filled with diapers, scraped knees, teacher conferences and school plays or recitals.
If you choose to follow your destiny, the same events may happen ... but in a different way. Where you go to school, what you major in, the jobs you accept or turn down, where you live and who you marry may change. But many of the events will be the same.
Knowing About Life Events
Knowing what these common life events are can help you anticipate, prepare and survive them. But more importantly, you gain the foresight to take an active hand in your life so you can bring about the ones you want and minimize the chances of the ones you don't.
A List of Life Events
So what are the common life events that come with the box of life and are part of most modern lives? Here is a quick checklist ...
Growing Up
During life age one, when we are an infant and child, we are focused on exploring the world and learning everything we can about it, our family and ourselves. Major and minor events include ...
- Learning to walk and talk
- Learning right and wrong and how to get along in our family
- Learning how to survive in the world you are born into
- Testing the boundaries of authority (known as the terrible twos)
- Learning how the world works by getting into every cupboard, dropping things to see how gravity works, and reaching to touch a hot stove
- Learning to share and tell the truth
- Learning how to spell, read and do numbers
- Going to school
- Making friends and enemies, and learning how to tell the two apart
- Learning the norms and what is taboo in your culture
Preparing For A Successful Life
When we become adolescents, we turn our attention both inward and outward, as we start to become part of a generation.
- Figuring out who you are and who you want to become
- Figuring out where you belong
- Learning the basic life skills
- Figuring out how to fit into your peer group and generation
Getting Vocational Training
And as we start to look towards the future, we prepare to take on the responsibility of taking care of and supporting ourselves.
- Choosing a profession, trade or livelihood
- Choosing a school or college
- Picking a major or area of study
- Studying, taking tests and writing term papers
- Graduating and earning a degree
Working For A Living
When we become young adults, we enter the workforce and start earning a living.
- Getting hired for your first job and learning the ropes
- Getting a performance review and a raise
- Outgrowing a job and leaving
- Getting more responsibility or a promotion
- Switching careers and learning new skills to stay competitive
- Running your own project, department or business
Creating A Life
Once we start taking care of ourselves, we become part of a community.
- Finding a neighborhood where you fit in, learning the ropes and settled in
- Finding where you fit in the community
- Commuting to and from work
- Creating a life with your own style after work and on weekends
- Taking time off, having adventures and going on holidays and vacations
- Shopping and buying the items you need to make a home
- Creating a home
- Renting an apartment and/or buying a house
- Learning about life, death and the things you value
- Learning first hand about the concepts of justice, freedom, fairness, compassion, jealousy, competition, and a thousand other ideas
- Encountering obstacles and overcoming them or be stopped by them
- Learning the lessons of life
Finding A Life Partner or Mate
Love is such a natural part of life, and it lasts our entire lifetime.
- Learning first hand about attraction, infatuation, and fondness
- Falling in like and falling in love
- Dating, getting attached, breaking up, getting serious, getting disappointed, getting back together
- Getting engaged, married and possibly divorced and remarried
- Learning how much you reflect your family and early environment
- Learning to trust, having your heart broken and learning to trust again
Having Children
When we take on the responsibility for caring for others, we are ready to become parents.
- Thinking about having children, creating them and preparing for their arrival
- Bringing new life into the world
- Raising and nurturing your children
- Teaching them the norms and taboos of their culture
- Teaching them the basic life skills
- Watching them grow, bandaging scrapped knees, going to school plays, science fairs and chairing PTa meetings
- Saving for their vocational training or college
Staying Healthy
Our life is also spent dealing with a myriad of health issues.
- Getting scraped knees and cavities
- Catching sniffles, colds and flus and recovering from them
- Dealing With A Health Crisis
- Surviving a health emergency or healing crisis
- Surviving a potentially life threatening disease
Coping With The Death of Loved Ones
With life comes the possibility of death, and coping with the loss of loved ones.
- Caring for, watching over and mourning the death of parents
- Mourning the death of co-workers and best friends
- Mourning the death of close older relatives and siblings
- Caring for, watching over and mourning the death of children
Going Through A Mid Life Assessment
At the midpoint in any process, there is a moment to pause and assess where you are and make any course corrections needed. So it is with midlife.
- Undergoing a crisis to bring about life transforming changes
- Taking time to examine your life, think about past choices and realize who you have become
- Re-figuring out who you are and want to become
- Discovering what really brings you happiness
Growing Older
As we age we become mature adults, and with it come the life events of growing older.
- Preparing for retirement
- Saving enough to stop working and still live comfortably
- Dealing with the impact of lifestyle choices in the form of health issues
- Gaining and sharing life experiences and the wisdom you have acquired as a community elder
- Managing your property and estate
Dying & Passing On
When our life force is wanning, we prepare for the next incarnation or transitioning into another existence in the Universe.
- Preparing for disabilities and death
- Settling your affairs, resolving open issues and finalizing the disposition of your estate
- Saying goodbye to loved ones
- Experiencing death and passing on to the next adventure
Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?
