In our formative years, most of us are unaware that they are actually our formative years. The years that sculpt and define who you are, what you are, what you want and where you want to go in your life. These are scary times. The unawareness of them is a lot better than the awareness of them; when you know how much these years will affect you in the future you stress on the importance of them all the more and end up screwing up one thing or another.
Things like leaving the home you lived in all your childhood and most of your adolescence is one of these things. Friendships you make or break. Things that fragment your heart (no matter how small or big: broken puppy love or the death of a close one) are also among the things that affect the final product that is you. You have to keep one thing in mind at times like these: if something affects you so deeply, emotionally and mentally, then it's probably worth it, no matter what others tell you to make you feel better. Belittling one's dilemmas as a way to help one recover is one of this century's hugest flaws in dealing with emotion and intelligence together. To stay emotionally healthy, one must deal with their emotion intelligently. Easy.
The more arduous journey would be the one you take when you're almost done formation. You will have experienced all these things that sculpted the new, more mature you, you will have probably equipped yourself academically and professionally as well, but after that you need to decide what to do next. Yes, the task gets harder as you grow. Overwhelming.
At that point the prospects seem infinite, the possibilities of what you can do and what you can become are so vast that you cannot make up your mind, because each option offers a different future. Try and make up your mind without feeling lost before; the impossible dream. Just remember that on your way to wherever you will meet people who either:
A. Know what you're worth well, and would take advantage of your skill and talent by faking interest in what you are and what you aim to be to keep you on their level, or worse, below them, making you believe that they actually want the best for you by under-appreciating you so; AND/OR
B. People who will hate you for no reason, or for a million reasons, and who will wish you failure, but just because they wish you failure doesn't mean you will (the existence of these parasites has plagued our world since the dawn of time); AND/OR
C. Older people who see themselves in you and who would like to direct you to one of two ways: either towards the goals they themselves failed to achieve when they were your age, or towards places where you can realize your full potential; a true form of vision and wisdom; AND/OR
D. People who know what you are worth and help you realize your full potential with no ulterior motives whatsoever; a rare existence, but still plausible.
Of course there are those you have known all your life, it goes without saying that those select few are your backbone; those who have been there at all times, in your success and failure, your times of beauty and ugliness, times of love and hate, they were there and they helped you on your feet when you faltered (yes, rather cheesy, but true). And there comes a time in your life when you question the existence of whom in your life, only to realize that the very thought of not having them there scares the light out of you, and you would do anything to keep them happy and satisfied just as they did for you. So hold onto those, their existence in your life has, is and will be a source of comfort and happiness forever and always: living, loving, and sharing - the values that make our lives worth something.
Your future need not be so confusing, when the opportunity presents itself to you, after tiresome days and nights in search of it that is, you will know what you were meant to do. But until then, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride, whether life be here or elsewhere, it will come to you, and you will go to it, just be patient.
And stay away from self-help books.
