Life is said to be a process. As we grow in life, we proceed to stages that we're not conversant with. When it seems like we know what we're up against, the next phase of life says otherwise. And so, we're always in a process; learning, unlearning, adapting, detaching, discovering, missing, gaining and losing. All of that makes it hard to have that perfect view of life we might have envisioned, which reflects that life is not our fantasy.
Amidst that, there's a need to be optimistic, and it calls for making plans, or say, figuring out life. This has turned out to be a concern and contentious issue among many young people because there's that expectation of them to have figured out their life. In a way, shouldn't they? But also, is this unpredictable life that easy to figure out? Not to talk of the modern day. Is it fair to think so of them? However, will time be so kind as to accommodate them not figuring it out yet?
Such is one of the life pressures young people could face. Even with plans, things go haywire sometimes. How about life as a whole? Is it okay to think something that huge should have been figured out at a young age? This tends to bring a lot of pressure on the young person, who's probably going through some things from the same life they're expected to have figured out. I think it's a burden and a lot of pressure on their shoulders.
As mentioned, life is a process. If the person is making efforts and not just lying around and wasting time, they should be given the trust and support to take life piece by piece, one step at a time. Every visible effort should be considered and encouraged towards the expected goal or result. This helps the person build confidence to face life every day with hope in mind. They don't feel pessimistic but rather optimistic about life.
Come to think of it, is it even possible to have one's life figured out? I mean, people could have a glimpse of it but not to say they have it all figured out. So even if not as a young person, the idea of having one's life figured out doesn't really hold. But I consider that the idea is about having plans for your life in the future. Again, plans can go wrong. Even the most thoughtful and well-laboured plans can turn out the wrong way.
I'm also thinking about time in this discourse of figuring one's life out. Life is a process, and so pressure shouldn't be brought into the picture. But if figuring out one's life is about the plans we make towards the future, then it's expedient to think about it and take it seriously too. Let it be that we made plans or tried to but they didn't work, rather than just holding on to the ideal that expecting a person at a young age to have figured out their life is unfair and wrong.
This is where a level of parenting and mentorship helps. There are people who have what could be said to be a life figured out even while young. The difference could be the choices, decisions and plans they made, and what they had access to in some cases. I look at some aspects of my life and I know that I would have had something better if I had some plans and executed them. But life is a process, and there's time to keep figuring out our lives, if we don't stop.
Image is AI generated.
