Happiness, the pursuit of happiness, is something that unites everyone. Everyone wants to be happy, everyone wants to live a fulfilling life, and everyone wants to find a meaning that gives direction to their existence. In this pursuit, young people are those who, just starting out in the “challenges” of life, often find themselves disoriented and confused by the prospects and possibilities offered by their family, society, school, and social media.
The “lightness” that weighs us down
What reaches a young person’s ears, loud and clear, is a strong sense of “lightness” running through platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. A glossy lightness that paints an ideal, sparkling, perfect picture, where wealth and success become the only goals worth pursuing. Unfortunately, however, these can soon turn into insidious traps that risk plunging people into a paralyzing sense of inadequacy, anxiety, and failure.
Social pressure and authenticity
Social media have certainly brought added value to the contemporary world, but as with every opportunity for evolution and growth, discernment is necessary; that is, the ability to take what is useful, select what can do us good, and avoid what could limit our freedom and undermine our unique authenticity.
It is important, then, to find a balance, and with it, strategies for achieving it without being swept away by the superficial trends of the moment.
Every era has its own “uphill struggles”
Certainly, young people today find themselves having to navigate a thousand stimuli before following their own path, but let us not forget that in every time, every era, every society, young people have had to and still have to confront the uphill struggle of growing up, the disorientation of the new, and the fear of not making it.
Saint Gabriel, a young man who made it
Today, then, we want to look to Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, a young man who made it. A young man who found his path, who took all the necessary steps to achieve a full and fulfilling life, and we can be amazed that he found all this within a lively adolescence filled with friends, parties, and dancing.
A brilliant and intelligent young man who, fully engaged in his time, knew how to listen deeply to himself without allowing himself to be corrupted by what he did not recognize as like him.
A courageous young man
Gabriel did not live in an easy time; the changes brought about by the Risorgimento challenged society as a whole and its way of life - it was the mid-1800s - and the pain and wounds that marked his life and his family did not leave him indifferent. His longing to make something great of his existence, initially silenced, eventually overcame his understandable youthful resistance.
The constant presence of Jesus Christ is recognized as the keystone, and at the age of 18, the choice to respond to that inner fire that never stops burning leads him to give everything for that Love that floods, envelops, and sustains him. Thus begins his second life, which does not deny his past but continues and evolves into the fullness he finds in life with God.
Gabriel, the young man sought out by his friends, the young man who loved dancing and writing poetry, the young man who lived his time to the fullest can, today, illuminate the lives of so many young people who, like him, want to be happy, want to listen to the heart’s deepest desires and pursue authentic, lasting values that do not change with changing fashions but remain firm and sustain life at every moment.
We know what Saint Gabriel did to achieve happiness, but what are you doing to achieve your dream? Tell us about it in the comments.
