Age Is the Invitation. Maturity Is the RSVP.

Are you coming?! You don’t have to say yes, but if you do, know that you won’t leave unchanged.

Alma Thomas, Apollo 12 "Splash Down", 1970

I turned 46 this year, and for as long as I can remember, people have called me “wise for my age” or “mature.” And it made me wonder: what exactly is maturity? And why do so many people avoid it?

What I’ve come to believe is that maturity isn’t about milestones—graduation, good job, marriage, parenting. It’s about what we do when life gets messy, when no one’s cheering, or when the old tools stop working. Oop!

When we talk about maturity, we often refer to mental and emotional maturity, not just paying bills on time or having a skincare routine. Real maturity is quiet. Real maturity is slow.

It’s this continuous, often uncomfortable process of learning how to handle life without blaming it for how we feel. Real maturity means showing up without needing to be the victim, the hero, or the star of the show.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how many of us are actually performing competence. These are the kinds of questions that start tapping you on the shoulder when you’ve lived enough to know better. It’s easier to perform than it is to actually develop the skills, because it takes time (a lot of it), it’s not sexy (nobody’s going viral for maturity), and it requires so much of you.

Let’s keep it a buck: reflecting on your stuff is not always easy, especially when you have to step down from whatever platform you’ve placed yourself on or take off the victim cape—even when it feels like it fits just right. Feeling is not easy. And yet it’s the work that allows you to live most comfortably with yourself.

So if age is an invitation, maturity is the RSVP. Are you coming?! You don’t have to say yes, but if you do, know that you won’t leave unchanged.

Most times, maturity looks like:
– Getting curious before you react or judge.
– Making friends with pain and grief.
– Being honest with yourself over and over and over again.

So why do so many people never develop it?

Because maturity requires risk, and most of us would rather stay comfortable.
Maturity questions your loyalty to the versions of yourself you cling to because they held you down or made you money. Maturity will call your number out of survival mode and into intentional living, which looks even slower and boring AF from the outside. But here’s what I can tell you as a woman of a certain age, it feels like FREEDOM on the inside.

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About Me

I’m Myleik Teele, an entrepreneur, coach, and community builder. Over the past decade, I have built, scaled, and closed CURLBOX, creating a blueprint for modern brand-building and cultivating thriving communities both online and in real life. Now, my focus is on helping people—from high-level entrepreneurs and executives to those simply trying to create a life that feels good—play bigger while actually enjoying the journey.

If you’re ready to grow without the pressure to be perfect and build a life that truly feels like yours, you’re in the right place. You can also find me on Instagram and my podcast, where I dive into life, business, and everything in between.