Navigating Identity: Challenges Faced by Young People in Building Their Own
Existential conflicts are challenges that arise throughout most of our lives. However, there are ages that can experience these problems with more recurrence and intensity, as is the case with young people in their 20s. At this stage, it is very common for doubts and uncertainties to arise due to the importance of decision-making to largely meet social pressures. It is at this stage of life, for example, that young people choose the future of their academic and professional lives. A decision, in theory, for life. All of this mixed with the desire to enjoy life, so typical of this age.
It is also at this moment that the “key turn” from adolescence to the beginning of adulthood occurs, a period in which many take on the responsibilities that were still exercised by their parents. The American psychologist Meg Jay, in her book The Decisive Age, places the 20s as the crucial time for making some decisions that can shape the rest of their lives, since it is common for people to reach their 30s feeling delayed professionally and emotionally because they did not make full use of their time.
Project manager Victor Hugo Araujo Egydio, at 20 years old, is already experiencing the pressures of age. The feeling of pressure arises with the need to “do everything yesterday”. According to him, the feeling is of a drop in life expectancy in the new phase, in the sense that the concerns he had five years ago have become different today. “There are times when we have fun, when we have to take advantage, but there are times, most of the time, when we can focus on our goals. That’s why I charge myself so much and have these crises a lot”, says Egydio.
Search for identity
Considering the transition process between adolescence and adulthood, psychologist, doctoral student and researcher Danillo Lisboa, from the Laboratory of Subjectivation Processes in Health at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP) at USP, explains Many young people are torn between focusing on their goals and enjoying life because they are searching for their identity.
“Young people, in an attempt to build their own identities, may feel the need to experiment and explore different paths and also to live intense experiences, seeking to discover who they are and what they want”, says Lisboa.
According to him, while some may feel the need to experiment and explore different paths in this search process, others may understand that the answer can be achieved through an orientation towards personal growth, establishing restrictive goals. “What will or will not favor one behavior or another can also be the environment, because, depending on where young people are located, including family, friends, the culture itself, this can all influence choices”, informs the expert .
Living is a process
Despite the importance of turning 20, this is not the only phase for making decisions in life, according to the psychologist. In this sense, the path to achievement varies from individual to individual. “Personal and professional development needs to be understood as a continuous process, which can occur at different ages and at different stages of life. We always need to remember that each person faces unique circumstances and may have different challenges and different opportunities on their path”, defines Lisboa.
For him, it is necessary for people to return to the ability to live processes, as society experiences the “culture of the ready”, that is, where there is no longer room for the unfinished. “We need to regain the awareness that living is a lifelong task that never ends. And since we are never ready, it is very important that we learn to look at where we want to go without forgetting to live the path”, he concludes.