Young People: How to Make Life Work

I appreciate the critical condition of youth. The time from roughly ages 16 to 26 is packed with junctions in life’s road that offer options that are high impact. The choices made in that time set a pace and tone that can dictate many of the circumstances of the remaining years. If you are in that age group, you may have already turned down the wrong road many times. Don’t despair.  Sometimes a bit further down that wrong road is a junction with a street that can take you back over to a better way. Sometimes you can retrace your steps back to the last wrong turn. The trouble is that at that age, you don’t always know what the wrong turns were because you aren’t sure of your destination or what roads to take.

So, how can you chart your course?  First, determine your values.  What are the important attributes of a person’s character and conduct? What is important in life? Then align your goals with your values. In doing this, you may find you have goals that don’t seem to support those values. Ask yourself why they are even goals.  Maybe a particular goal will illuminate your ACTUAL values.

Maybe your values aren’t quite what you thought. Then determine what they should be and align your goals with them. These goals should address all areas of life: mental, social, emotional, physical, educational, spiritual, and any area I forgot to mention.

Once your goals are set, analyze how you spend your time. Get rid of everything that doesn’t support your goals. If you are reluctant to eliminate something, it could be that it is because it actually supports a value you didn’t know you had. Then go back and start the process again.  Aim to streamline life….simplify it.

There are many young people whose lives consist of lows punctuated by artificial highs (drugs, alcohol, sex) with the occasional worthwhile high (romance, athletics, intellectual achievement) thrown in. You don’t want that way, do you?  Maybe it’s time to take charge of your life by making premeditated decisions instead of letting life happen to you. Living by acting instead of reacting. A great way to do that is to associate with people who have that wisdom and have applied it to their own lives.  Spend time with them. Get to know them. See how they think.  Listen to advice and get it from many advisors, but find at least one mentor that is willing to spend time with you and cares about you and your outcomes, and then treat them like precious jewels. Be humble and teachable, but don’t be afraid to intellectually challenge what you are learning.  Ask questions, not to disprove everything, but to prove all things.

Refer to http://gordonfeil.blogspot.ca/2016/11/the-millennial-muddle.html for similar advice.