A Train Ride, Not a Train Wreck

We tend to think of 'things' in a compartmentalized manner--birth to six years (toddler); seven to twelve years (adolescent); thirteen to eighteen years (teenager) and so on.  Have we considered that when you take all the parts of something and put them together they equal the whole?  Wouldn't it be easier if we just looked at Life and accepted Life on those terms?  Wouldn't it help if we allowed our thought processes to perceive Life as a forward moving train, stopping only for a moment at different stations, but ultimately pushing us forward toward reaching our final destination?