OrganIze

Consider for a moment a toddler and the phase of separation anxiety. The child doesn't know why she becomes hysterical when mom cannot be seen. She only knows that this is her reaction. In mother's absence, the phase of separation anxiety is experienced. But when mother returns, that phase is, until mother leaves again, relieved. Eventually the toddler matures past this phase and the anxiety of separation is not such a ruling factor in her life. She has moved on to experience different phases.

This could be considered a phase. At first glance it really looks like one. By literal definition, it is a phase. But upon close examination it is very deliberate and therefore I argue it cannot be classified as a phase. For, at least in my mind, a phase is something one goes through without fully realizing they are experiencing it. Unfortunately that is not my story. If one were to argue this was a phase, I could rebut this way: it's been around for as long as I can remember. Though there may have been a time it did not exist, this "phase" is now a permanent part of me. Phases, by definition are temporary, and thus if you need to classify this as a phase, it will lay in the category of "life-long phase." Which begs the question - is it then a phase at all?