Age, they say, is just a number, but as a child, many of us have a different meaning to this, probably because we are fed up of being regarded as minors and being told what to do and not do per time, and so we look forward to attaining the age where we can be independent and be recognized as an adult that can do things at will, and that leaves us with the question of what age one can stop being recognized as a minor. That's somewhat complicated because different countries and cultures have diverse thoughts on this, but today I'll love to share my take on it.

To start with, the statement that age is just a number is absolutely correct in my opinion, and that's because I personally have this belief that maturity isn't all about how old someone is; it's mostly all about their mentality and emotional capability. Through the years, we've seen several people who are above the recognized age assumed by society as adulthood, and yet such people still think, act, and talk like minors.

And on the other hand, we've seen relatively young individuals that are deemed minors by society, and yet their behavior and actions can only be compared to those of someone who's mature enough to have their freedom and free will to do things as they deem fit. This realization has made us lose sense of how to differentiate between who should be called a minor and who should be called an adult.

But to start with, just like in most other countries, down here in Nigeria, the age limit for minors is 18 years, and once you clock 18, it's believed that one is mature enough to be held accountable for their actions and is even allowed the free will to do things any other adults in society can do. Age 18 is the end of immunity that shields minors from being completely judged for their actions, and it's also the breakaway from barriers that prevent them from being allowed to do different things they've loved to do.

Talking about whether the age of 18 is too soon or too late for someone to be recognized as an adult, I'd say it's complicated for me to decide, and that's because a few years ago, while growing up, if you'd asked me the same question, I'd have said it's too late straight away, and that's because of my mentality and level of experience back then, but fast forward to the present day, and I won't still say it's too late, but neither will I say it's too soon. If you're wondering why, I'll explain below:

You see, as a child, I was dying to become an adult so I could do things in my own way without the compromise of my parents, but now that I'm old enough, I look back and I'm grateful for how firm my parents were in dealing with me, because had they not done what they did, I'd probably have become a menace to society. But if you look at the world today, we've come to see many parents who gave their children too much freedom in the present day, and the end result is them constituting a nuisance to society.

Nowadays you'll see children of age 10 to 15 that are already well acquainted with sex and had multiple relationships, substance abuse, you'd also see minors of that same age grade that are already chasing wealth by all means and went as far as diving into cyber crime or ritual just to amaze wealth, it's quite disgusting and because such isn't the case in my time and with continuous happening of such act, I think it's best if the age 18 remains the final bus stop before a minor can transit to adults.

Even though this is happening all over the country, I'd have loved to extend the age to later years, but then I understand the perspective of the young ones because I've been there and I know there's a need for them to gain their freedom in order to start walking towards their dreams and ambitions, strive for personal growth and development, and, in a nutshell, take ownership of their lives as they pursue opportunities for self-discovery, so the age of 18 is fair for their transition into adulthood.

And now to the big question of if age truely matters when it comes to the discussion of maturity, personally I'd say no, age although plays significant role in knowing how far one has been around, yet it's not a yardstick to determine how mature a individual is, in my opinion I believe true maturity is a product of our life experiences, personal growth, and self-reflection.

And such experiences can be adopted at a very tender age; you can be 40 and have limited experience or still not have the emotional capability to handle situations that others would have handled easily, so in a nutshell, age isn't a criteria to determine maturity.

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HPUD

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It's another hive power-up day in the year 2024; to be precise, it's the fifth hive power-up day, and I'll be participating in the fifth one since the year began. As I continue, my ambition to attain my hive power-up goal seems so ambiguous and impossible, but I won't let that put me down, as I'm ready to put in the work and commitment to actualize this goal.

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LAST MONTH	POWER UP	CURRENT HP

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The big goal is to have 14,000 hive by the end of the year, and presently I've got just 8,954, which seems far away from the big goal with just about 7 months to go, but I'll keep pushing myself to drive closer and closer to that dream, and that's one of the reasons why I'm powering up this month again.

Today I powered up 20 hive, and that made my total hive power rise to 8,954; that's 513 hive different from the 8,441 I had last month after powering up. Although the plan was to attain 9k by now, it's still a very big achievement that I'm excited about, and now I'm hoping to at least acquire about 400 hive power this new month of May.

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed the read. Have a wonderful day ahead, and stay blessed.

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_{Hive power up photos are screenshot from my wallet on Peakd, while, Thumbnails were designed on canva}

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