20多歲的年輕人，難免對漫漫人生感到迷茫，渴望得到來自前輩的指引，不妨來聽聽加拿大多倫多大學心理學教授喬丹·彼得森（Jordan Peterson）的建議。
彼得森教授首先提到，年輕人不要害怕承擔責任：
Don't be afraid of taking on responsibility. It's where you find what sustains in your life. You can take on too much responsibility; you have to be cautious in that regard. But that's a less common problem than not taking on enough. A lot of the things that people regard as traps are actually the means to their life.
不要害怕承擔責任，這是你維系生命的所在。你可能會承擔過多的責任，在這方面你必須謹慎。但比起沒有承擔足夠責任來說，這是個小問題。很多人們視作陷阱的東西，實際上是他們賴以生活的方式。
很多年輕人不愿意輕易承諾一段感情，覺得自己有更重要的事情要做。但彼得森教授認為，事實上，為愛付出承諾是很有價值的一件事，甚至比大多數事情都更重要。
You know often young people are afraid of commitment, for example, in the context of a romantic relationship. And because they feel that that's going to interfere with their pursuit of something more valuable.
年輕人經常害怕做出承諾，例如在一段戀愛關系中。因為他們覺得這種承諾會妨礙他們追求一些更有價值的東西。
That's just not the case. You're not going to find something more valuable in your life than a committed relationship with someone you love that sustains itself across time.
但事實不是那樣的。你在人生中未必會找到比和你愛的人共同奔赴一段感情更有價值的事。這種關系能跨越時間的限制。
根據心理學家埃里克森（Erik Homburger Erikson）的人格發展階段理論（Erikson's stages of psychosocial development），20多歲的年輕人正處于成年早期（Early adulthood）。
在這個階段中，年輕人經過了青春期的身份認同，開始準備與他人建立親密關系：
Once people have established their identities, they are ready to make long-term commitments to others. They become capable of forming intimate, reciprocal relationships (e.g. through close friendships or marriage) and willingly make the sacrifices and compromises that such relationships require.
一旦人們確立了身份認同，他們就做好了對他人付出長期承諾的準備了。他們現在有能力形成親密的、互相回應的關系（例如親密的友誼或婚姻），并愿意為這種關系作出必要的犧牲和妥協。
reciprocal /rɪˈsɪprəkl/ ：相互的；回應的
If people cannot form these intimate relationships, a sense of isolation may result; arousing feelings of darkness and angst.
如果人們不能形成這類親密關系，孤立感可能會由此產生，進而引發陰暗和憂慮的情緒。
身處20多歲的人生階段，人生尚未定型，面臨眾多壓力和選擇，有迷茫感和焦慮感是十分正常的。而處于互聯網時代中，海量信息的涌入更是會放大這些感覺。
現實的壓力和困難要想辦法解決，而在思想上我們也要充分做好準備，敢于承擔責任、積極建立親密關系，那些難熬的時光終會過去！