Why Struggle Matters for Young Adults
This topic has felt so important to write about, and yet I’ve been avoidant in writing it. I find this topic to be obvious and I’ve written this article over and over in my head, but when I’ve sat down to put the information into an article, I’ve found it profoundly hard to articulate. Ironic, don’t you think? This is my struggle.
This topic feels like it doesn’t even need to be written about because it’s so common sense. What I’ve learned over the years though is that common sense is no longer common. For me to finally get this out, it took me struggling to try to succinctly encapsulate why this matters when it comes to young adults. Case in point: if they don’t work through struggles as they are starting to become their own independent young person, then when they reach my old age (ha!) they will feel incapable. Truthfully, that’s what it’s about it. It’s mental. If they’ve struggled, because they will, it’s about growth from the struggle. Did they figure it out painfully on their own? Did they have to ask for help from others? Did it take awhile to solve the problem? Or was it never solved at all? They need these successes through the effort of trying. It’s those successes that will give them the mental stamina to believe in themselves no matter what life continues to throw at them.
Through the Success is Subjective podcast, I’ve even been overly vocal in talking about how our life’s paths are not linear, not matter how much we think it will be. And, how no one guest experienced perfection in starting a new task, hobby, or job. It’s just unrealistic. Think about it as the baby bird needing to fly the nest for the first time. Their wings aren’t completely strong enough yet to make sure that when they jump out that their flapping doesn’t look cringe-worthy. It’s because they need to build the muscle to make flight look effortless. Focus in on that “practicing to fly” bit because that’s the translation to the important of struggle for a young adult: they need to grow those muscles!
If it doesn’t happen while they’re young, picture someone who doesn’t have the strength (literally) to do anything when they’re older. In fact, they may be so physically weak that they appear to be physically dependent on others to sustain life. Morbid image, I get it. So let’s avoid this for young adults and encourage them to work through the struggle because that’s where they’ll have the strength to persevere when times get tough. This is important because adversity is more common than not. Just be ready for it.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
