One of the most common phrases I hear among some of my friends who are my age or even a couple of years younger is, “I just can’t adult right now,” or, “Adulting is so hard.”

In one sense, I get it. The transition from college life to adulthood is tumultuous. It doesn’t matter if you got a great job out of college, landed a beautiful spouse, or managed to have the down payment for a nice condo in the city. College life is so much different than real life that the transition to real life is stressful.

I was blessed to be raised by parents who prepared me for real life, and I had a great support group of Christians around me in my local church and at my college. Real, adult life should not have had a chance to knock me down and leave me wondering if I knew how to adult or not.

But it did. Adult life caught me on my heels and knocked me over, despite my solid upbringing and support group of friends and family who encouraged me regularly.

Transitions Are Rarely Easy

When I graduated college, there are a few transitions that may have been easier than the route I took. For instance, life could have been simpler if I was graduating single and only had myself to care about. Further, life would have been a lot simpler if I was moving home to the town where I grew up and had plenty of friends and family to spend time with. Also, had I taken a job out of college that was right in my wheel house and not a stretch of my knowledge and abilities, life would have been much simpler.

But transitions are rarely easy because life is rarely simple.

I graduated college six months before Susie and I were due to be married, and we did not move home to be surrounded by our support network of friends and family. I took a job that stretched my skills and abilities in a city over 400 miles away from everything we had ever known.

This made “adulating” seem impossible.

In the midst of trying to figure out the simple logistics of being a married man, working a real job, and living in a brand new place, I wrestled with something many twentysomethings wrestle with when they’re launched into the real world: my sense of purpose.

The Search for the Ever-Elusive “Purpose”

I’ve written here on the blog before about my struggle with purpose and calling and how I want to be sure that whatever I’m doing with my life is in obedience with what I believe God has called me to do, not to mention enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was made aware of a resource called Leadership By LIGHT. The purpose of this book is to help young people, like young Millennials, learn how to “adult.” But their purpose is not simply to help young people try to scrape by and make everything work out. The purpose of Leadership By LIGHT is to help young people figure out how life really works and how they can pursue a holistic maturity that leads to a sense of fulfillment.

Whether you’re trying to figure out how finances work, or you’re unsure of what an “authentic life even looks like, Leadership By LIGHT is a resource that can make “adulting” seem less like a mountain to climb and more like an opportunity to be seized.

The folks behind Leadership by LIGHT express the purpose of their resource like this:

Leadership by LIGHT is a book filled with know-how that will help you examine your life, determine where you are now, where you want to be, and increase your faith. You will begin a journey of discovery that will change your life forever and empower you to create a fulfilled and abundant life.

I encourage you to check out the book and learn more about if this is a resource you, your workplace, or even your church small group may be interested in using. From the preview I have been given, I think this could be a great resource to help young people get a better idea of how real life works and how to life a life that is faithful to God, glorifying him.

A lot of Millennials struggle with this sense of “purpose” or “calling” no matter if they’re Christians, Muslims, or people of no faith at all. Christians are not the only ones who feel they have a sort of “place” in the story of the world. We Christians are simply blessed with the knowledge that there is a God who loves us speaking into that calling, and we have the blessing of knowing that our calling, our purpose, can have eternal significance if we use our gifts to glorify God.

Learn more about Leadership by LIGHT and other related resources at their website: LLWorldwide.org.

Sponsored by Launching Leaders Worldwide.

Tags:  Leadership by LIGHT Millennials Purpose Vocation