Youth Life
Youth is a period of life when your mental, physical, and spiritual growth increases your capacity to influence the world. This brings greater freedom to explore the world beyond your home and family. The world you will find is likely more exciting and complex than you imagined as a child. You meet new people who have different beliefs and values. You learn about your own interests and passions and start to reshape your life around them. There are more opportunities and more things to learn every day. And with any time of discovery and growth, there will be challenges.
Everyone faces challenges during their youth regardless of their race, gender, religion, or where they live. While the specifics and timing of the challenges differ, learning and growing is essential to overcome them. Bahá’í principles—guides for living your life—can help you overcome challenges by providing direction and perspective. As Bahá’u’lláh tells us “Let each morn be better than its eve and each morning better than its yesterday.”
The Bahá’í principle of independent investigation of the truth requires us to think for ourselves. You must make your own decisions about the values you live by. You will then live with the consequences of your decisions. In this section, you will find strategies for facing some of the most common challenges you may experience as a Bahá’í youth.