Psychosocial Aspects of Life and Aging

Psychosocial Aspects of Life and Aging

Birth Start School Played Soccer Played Hockey
____________+__________________+__________________+___________________+
Age 0 Age 5 Age 5 Age 7
Trust Industry Industry Industry

Gr. 8 Grad. Pet Died High School Grad Shoulder Surgery
____________+___________________-__________________+__________________+
Age 14 Age 15 Age 18 Age 18
Identity Confusion Identity Identity

University Begin Finance Career Quit Job Started New Job
____________+___________________+__________________-__________________+
Age 18 Age 21 Age 23 Age 23
Identity Intimacy Isolation Intimacy

Met Girlfriend
____________+
Age 24
Intimacy

When creating a time line for yourself it gives you a chance to really take a look at the key events that contributed and help define who you really are. Above I have created a timeline of my life, and attempted to find an event that would cover every aspect of the Erickson Theory. Unfortunately this has proven to be very tough as I am only 24 and therefore can only go till the Intimacy vs. Isolation level. Below I have explained why each event was positive or negative for me.

Being born into a family with two older sisters has the great way of making you feel like you are part of a family. This helps any newborn generate trust and comfort with their family. Start school is always a very intimidating time for any kid, but being the youngest in the famiy meant that I had a lot of support from my sisters and parents as they have all been through this already. Even though it may have been difficult when starting school, by joining sports teams allowed me to make meaningful friends and be part of some good social groups.

Grade 8 graduation played a key role in my identity stage, because even at such a young age I started thinking about my future career. This also gave me the sense off accomplishment and my first real achievement in life. When my dog passed away at age 15 it gave me a lot of confusion. The reason was this is the first time I ever had any real loss or major megative event in my life. Since this happened to me at this age I started it caused a lot of commitment issues. I started to believe that as long as I never got to close to anything it would never be so hard to lose something.

High school grad, shoulder surgery and University were all identity moments for me. Each one taught me a valuable lesson about working hard for what you want. Shoulder surgery really showed me that life can bring you set backs, such as missing all the activities with friends, but by working hard you can get through it and back on track.

Every time I found a new career was a big stepping stone. My very first career in finance gave me the reassurance that all my hard work throughout University paid off. When I quit my job it was a hard time as you feel stranded and out of place. For someone so young and never having time off it was a different feeling. Then I found my new career in Health Care, and for the first time I felt that I started to create a foundation for my future. After finally having success in a organization, I met my current girlfriend. This is currently one of the biggest moments in my life, as it showing me things continuing to move in the right direction for me.

Even though I am quite young to be creating a timeline of my life, there are definite defining moments that have helped me grow. Although I have only had a couple negative moments, I am currently going through multiple positive moments. This has given me the reassurance that whatever is ahead can be easily dealt with.