Life can be broken into segments. I used to separate my life into sections according to school: Preschool. Elementary school.
Junior high. High school. Older people may see the segments of their life much differently. A divorcee, for example, may see their life like this: Pre-marriage.
Marriage. Divorce. Post-divorce. The human brain tends to place things into groups, to sort things so that they might make more sense, to compartmentalize and condense.
Read more on themighty.com