Young people and adults alike go through difficult times when they come to take decisions about their future. From my experience accompanying young people on their journey to find their place in life, I have learnt that the best way of making life-changing choices is by tackling them and giving them time.

Some people take the easy way out and try to solve an issue simply by running away from it. The outcome of this may be fatal, because running away from a decision many times means living with the burden of un-answered questions all our lives.

So I feel it is necessary, or rather, crucial, to take the bull by the horns and face some fundamental questions when they crop up: What is the aim of my life, what is my dream? What lifestyle, what profession will make me profoundly happy and give deep meaning to my life? How can I best develop my potential? How can I put my talents and capabilities to the service of others?

I feel that many times, people take the wrong approach when trying to answer these and similar questions. They usually try to simplify matters by avoiding the more complex questions and just trying to answer the basic question: which is the right course for me? This way they simply look at their professional life as distinct from their personal and spiritual life, and this may have a disastrous effect.

One of the things that strikes me profoundly from my experience of working with young people is the considerable number of youths who are not happy with their choice of course and with their life. Unfortunately, the number of students becoming increasingly unhappy and unsatisfied with their studies as they progress through the course they chose is always rising and this gives rise to great concern.

Some students go through painstaking efforts to graduate, only to realise at the end of it all that they never gave time and serious thought to what will truly make them happy in their life. Thus, after all the hard work to get to the much awaited graduation ceremony from whatever educational institution, they realise that ‘this is not what I wanted after all!’ After so many years of hard work they find themselves having to start all over again.

Our relationship with God should help us to always look at the ‘big picture’ of our lives

So what can be done? I would like to offer some suggestions.

Many people have become incapable of reflecting and praying nowadays and this leads them to take decisions that are not the fruit of a discernment process. Our education system gives students a lot of information but does not teach them the basic and most important art of discernment.

So I suggest that we should think well before taking any decision that will affect us for the rest of our life. It is important to find the courage to look at our life in the light of our faith – our relationship with God should help us to always look at the ‘big picture’ of our lives.

God wants us to be profoundly happy, no matter what we do. So it is important to have the courage to ask the fundamental question: what does God want from me? We can rest assured that the answer will be a very important milestone in our discernment process.

Asking what God wants from me does not mean giving up my innermost desires and dreams. On the contrary, it means becoming more aware of them and seeking true happiness.

It is very important to have the courage to evaluate our life from time to time. My Jesuit formation has taught me to stop regularly and ask myself the question: How am I doing? What is working well for me? What is not working for me?

These and other fundamental questions can help me realise if I am reaching my goals in my life, if I am in the right place or not, and if I should take some decisions I was not previously aware of.

patrickmagrosj@gmail.com

Fr Patrick Magro is provincial designate of the Society of Jesus.