Growing up, our parents made most of our decisions for us. We always had some authority figure in our life to guide us and tell us exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. We never had to think of doing anything on our own because there was always someone there to tell us what to do. As you grew up, there came a time in your life where you had to start being an adult and making decisions for yourself. There are three categories that most of us fall into: being thrown into adulthood, prepping for adulthood, or fighting to gain adulthood. There is a discussion to be had with all three categories.

The first category is being thrown into adulthood. If you are being thrown into adulthood, you are suddenly on your own without any parental guidance or mentoring. You are completely at your own freedom to make your own decisions without the influence of anyone else. Some people may be thrown out of their house when they turn a certain age, or maybe they willingly left home for a certain reason. With this group of people, they had to grow up in a short time span.

They went from having a family or an authority figure in their life one minute, to having no one the next minute. With this category, these people had to go find jobs, find a place to live, and find their way through life in a short while. They may not have made the best decisions at first because they were having to make decisions that would help them to survive in that moment. Early adulthood for these people is a learning experience. They learned how to be an adult by actually being an adult and making their own decisions, whether those decisions were either right or wrong for them.

The second category is prepping for adulthood. If you are being prepped into adulthood, you have a support system, whether it’s a parent or a mentor, that helps you and guides you into making decisions as an adult. These people are not making decisions by themselves at first because they are being taught how to make those decisions. This is very beneficial because these people are being prepped into becoming an adult. Once these people actually move out of their parents’ home, they are well equipped with the knowledge it takes to make good decisions on their own. They aren’t calling their parents or making bad decisions because they weren’t prepared to make those decisions.These individuals are well prepared to make good financial, personal, and spiritual decisions on their own.

The third category is fighting to gain adulthood. In this category, the person is trying to gain adulthood from their authority figure. These individuals have been taught very well by their parent or guardian; however, their parent or guardian is not willing to let go. Therefore, the parent or guardian tries to control the actions of their child. The people that fall into this category are well equipped to make decisions on their own because they have learned from their parents; however, their parents try to dictate what the individual does and with who. In this category, adulthood is a gaining, or earning process. Either the person surrenders to their authority figure, or the person takes control of their own life but at the consequences of their parent or guardian. These individuals may have an instilled fear because they may be afraid of their authority figure’s consequences on them if they make a “wrong” decision; however, these individuals finally come to grips with reality. They have to choose to live their life and make decisions based on what they feel is right, not what their parent or guardian thinks is right.

All of these categories are unique in their own way. Most everyone falls into one of these three categories of people. There does come a point in your life where you have to start making your own decisions based off of what you think is the right decision to make. Decisions are hard to make especially when they are important ones. We all make mistakes sometimes, and that is the beautiful part about making your own decisions. Whether it be the right or wrong decision, know that you are the only person accountable for your decisions. God gave us free will so that we could have the right to choose. Yes, we will have to answer to Him on judgment day for the sins we have committed, but He is a very just God. The Lord will judge us based on what we have done, not what other people have done, so we need to be focused on our life and not so focused on the decisions of other people. You are the only person who can make decisions for yourself, so use that for good and make it count for something.