The Importance Of Life In Erikson's Life

Non-normative life events are life events that are unique and do not happen to all people. When my grandmother was 10 years old her parents got divorced. This is a common occurrence now but in the 1940s this was not so common. She frequently experienced bullying because of it and said that children would refuse to play with her, she said they were mean to her and it made her extremely sad the way people treated her. A few years later her dad remarried and she had a new stepmother. Her stepmother was “not very nice and resented me because I was from my fathers first marriage. My stepmother told me when I left home it was the happiest day of her life.” This changed how Adrienne was going to be a mother and how she was as a person. She made sure …show more content…
despair stage of her life. This is defined as the final stage of development, in late adulthood. If the person feels like they had successful life integrity will be achieved, if not the person will feel gloom and despair at the end of their life. (A topical approach to life-span development, P.22) When talking to my grandmother about her life and the life she has lived, she told me she feels like her life has gone wonderful that she wouldn’t change a thing about it even if she could. She does wish however that she could have had a normal family life as a child but says her proudest moments in this stage of her life have been when her daughter adopted a baby and the birth of her great grandchild. . She looks forward to helping her family and living her life to the fullest. She told me that she was proud of her education and she got even though it was later in her life. She said when she was a child she believed a successful like was determined by your education and how much you can learn in a lifetime. She said she always wanted more in her life and thought that education was the way to get her there. She still believes, a successful life is the exact same thing . She hopes that’s all her grandchildren get an education to expand theirs minds and they find what they love to do in life. Based on my interview with Adrienne I believe she has achieved integrity in the last stage of he life. She believes she has lived her life to the fullest …show more content…
A study by HSBC Insurance in 2007 stated that 33% of all people retire and their sixties and 11% in their seventies (HSBC Insurance, 2007, P. 588). This made me think about when Adrienne retired, she retired in 1996 when she was 61 years old. She retired because she was getting older and she wanted to help take care of me when I was born. Now that she is retired and I am older she spends her time reading and painting. My grandpa is still around and she enjoys spending time with him as she didn’t have as much time with him when they were raising a family. I believe having time to spend with my grandfather and no having to spend it alone has really impacted her in a positive way. It is easy for retirement to be a negative experience because of giving up a career and having extra free time, having him around to discus things with and spend time with has made the transition easier on