What is your greatest challenge, trial or adversity?

[moscowite]

I am giving a talk to a group of youth at a youth conference. I would appreciate any feedback on what trials, challenges or adversities the youth of the LDS church face. Thank you.

[NeuroTypical]

Off the top of my head:

Outside the home:

Peer suicide, drug addiction, mental issues (like cutting and depression), school violence (not bullying - more like rape and beatings and worse), teen promiscuity, teen pregnancy, and terrible overwhelmingly powerful peer pressure.

Inside the home:

Lack of decent male and/or female role models and authority figures, blended family issues, having to bounce between mom's and dad's places, incest or other abuse issues, pornography, and everything in the above list.

If you can make the sligtest dent on even one of these, with even a single kid, then your efforts will be worth it.

LM

[lizzy12]

I'm sorry, but those issues loud mouth are extremist issues.

Honestly, as an LDS youth number one challenge would be accepting the YW in my ward who are just plain rude. They say and do things that are unacceptable. its a challenge to accept them and love them while speaking up and telling them its not appropriate to text while the yw leader is talking.

Peer pressure isnt a problem if you choose good friends.

Another pressure for youth is the internet. People don't know who you are, so you feel like you can't be punished for the sins you commit. but you can.

I think a lot of LDS male youth face troubles with masturbation.

[Hemidakota]

Edited June 30, 2010 by Hemidakota

[Hemidakota]

I think a lot of LDS male youth face troubles with masturbation.

After countless interviews with our youth (young adults), mastabation is linked to internet porn. Sad to say, I believe it is still the number one problem in the church right now.

[sweetoctober]

One of biggest challenges I had as a youth, was who I connected my feelings with. I cling to maturity, and we were always prompted to date within our age groups, which never peaked my interest b/c I was drawn to older men...It was crazy..It got to the point when I had to discuss the issue with my bishop...he is so funny, and great, he really snapped me out of it. But, yeah, that was hard.

[Uncle_Sam]

I am giving a talk to a group of youth at a youth conference. I would appreciate any feedback on what trials, challenges or adversities the youth of the LDS church face. Thank you.

I think Brigham Young once said that our most difficult trial is that of self-mastery. I think that's true for everybody. Whatever sins we keep committing or temptation we give in to, it's only because we failed to master ourselves at that moment.

[NeuroTypical]

I'm sorry, but those issues loud mouth are extremist issues.

Forgive me if I misunderstand here, but are you saying our youth don't face extremist issues?

LM

(very confused)

Edited July 15, 2010 by Loudmouth_Mormon

[lizzy12]

Forgive me if I misunderstand here, but are you saying our youth don't face extremist issues?

LM

(very confused)

We do however as a 16 yr old those are not the pressures that i think are facing the average youth.

And many of the challenges some youth face, they bring upon themselves.

Maybe, my small town conservative up bringing changes my challenges vs. most but thats just my thought.

[NeuroTypical]

We do however as a 16 yr old those are not the pressures that i think are facing the average youth.

That was largely true when I was growing up, I don't think it's true any more. If it's true in your ward lizzy, consider yourself greatly blessed - your parents have obviously chosen the right place to raise you, or they're doing a great job of sheltering you from what's there.

But go to any gathering of youth in any ward in the country, show them the list I posted, ask them strait out - "How many of you either struggle personally with something on this list, or have a close friend or family member who does". If they respond honestly, I'm thinking on average, more than half of our youth would raise their hands. In some areas, just about every hand would be raised.

Now Hemi suggested Apathy is the biggest struggle. I think there's something to that. It's worth considering - are our youth so apathetic because no adults in their lives want to talk about/do anything about these 'extremist' issues?

Hopefully y'all find it worth thinking about.

LM

[Cassiopeia]

I'm sorry, but those issues loud mouth are extremist issues.

and yet some people do face them. Please don't invalidate the experiences of others simply because you don't share them in common.

Peer pressure isnt a problem if you choose good friends.

Life just isn't always that simple. We often think we've chosen good friends only to find out they aren't. And peer pressure comes in many forms.

Another pressure for youth is the internet. People don't know who you are, so you feel like you can't be punished for the sins you commit. but you can.

I think a lot of LDS male youth face troubles with masturbation.

Woah, woah! Let's let the young men speak for themselves, shall we? The OP is asking what YOUR greatest challenges are. Not what you THINK others might be struggling with.

And many of the challenges some youth face, they bring upon themselves.

Wow, how utterly lacking in compassion that statement was. Life and being alive brings to our doorstep many challenges. We all make mistakes. Let's try not to sound so unfeeling about it.

Remember this is a public forum and the "eyes of the world are upon us." We should be emulating a Christ-like attitude.

As a youth I struggled with my parents not wanting me to join the church. The contention got so heated that a week before my baptism my brother held a butcher knife to my throat and threatened to kill me saying he'd rather I be dead than a Mormon.

I had a hard time finding friends with church standards and I was very lonely. The youth in my ward wanted me to join but they had no interest past converting me to remain my real friends.

That was very difficult for me.

[lizzy12]

and yet some people do face them. Please don't invalidate the experiences of others simply because you don't share them in common.

My point was that the majority of teens don't face extremist issues, not that there not around.

Life just isn't always that simple. We often think we've chosen good friends only to find out they aren't. And peer pressure comes in many forms.

Life's what you make it.

Woah, woah! Let's let the young men speak for themselves, shall we? The OP is asking what YOUR greatest challenges are. Not what you THINK others might be struggling with.

Yes, she's asking what LDS YOUTHS greatest challenge is, and yet posters who are not in there teenage years are posting. I see nothing wrong with posting something that I personally know a few have struggled with.

Wow, how utterly lacking in compassion that statement was. Life and being alive brings to our doorstep many challenges. We all make mistakes. Let's try not to sound so unfeeling about it.

We don't need to add to our challenges, that was my point. Mistakes happen, but many just don't care and will repeat things over and over.

Remember this is a public forum and the "eyes of the world are upon us." We should be emulating a Christ-like attitude.

You can be serious, frank and chastise people without being on Christlike. Think about Christ casting those market place ppl out of the temple.

Loudmouth- Thank you for your comment, I do live in a very good area and should be more thankfull for that.

[Cassiopeia]

My point was that the majority of teens don't face extremist issues, not that there not around.

I don't know where you live but I happen to know a majority of teens face extreme issues on a daily basis.

Life's what you make it.

In an ideal world where we control everything. This is the kind of thinking that allows someone to be taken by surprise when things happen beyond their control and they have no clue as to what to do or where to turn.

Yes, she's asking what LDS YOUTHS greatest challenge is, and yet posters who are not in there teenage years are posting. I see nothing wrong with posting something that I personally know a few have struggled with.

We don't need to add to our challenges, that was my point. Mistakes happen, but many just don't care and will repeat things over and over.

You can be serious, frank and chastise people without being on Christlike. Think about Christ casting those market place ppl out of the temple.

And yet you struggle with people in your YW being so rude. huh. I wonder why that is.

[Justinator1]

Life IS what you make it. The only thing in this world you can control is you and how you handle things.

I applaud you, Lizzy, for taking such a proactive view on life. If more people in general had a more proactive attitude there would be a lot less heartache in the world.

[Guest]

I'm with Lizzy on this one.

Yes, there are extreme things out there. But, in the context of a Youth Stake Conference, I think it more of an impact to discuss the issues that slide by each of our youth's radar because they don't think it's "bad enough". The extreme things I would hope is addressed by each parent in their own families.

Rudeness is something that every youth in every ward is familiar with. It is something that they may do themselves. It is something that a lot of them face on their own because it can be too "small" for parents to interfere with ("You can handle this on your own, dear"). A lot of times it is even too small for Youth Leadership to deal with. Teenage suicide, although bad, stems from the small things like rudeness.

By the way, I like Lizzy's style - I don't think she's unfeeling on this thread at all, sorry Cassiopea. I think your "attack" was out of place. But Lizzy, you handled your response well. If I was your mother, I would be proud of you on this instance, especially for one being so young.

On a personal note:

It's been so long since I was in my youth. The biggest challenge I faced was to get acceptance without having to change "me". I was a Catholic in a Catholic school in a town of 90% Catholics, so morality/religion was not an issue for me.

I was a popular kid because of my brothers - one an ultimate sport jock, the other the valedictorian with over a dozen academic achievement medals to his name. I'm just ordinary me and I can never live up to my brothers. So, I wanted to be a sports girl but they expect me to excel there (I'm just not that good). I was wanting to be in computers but then I didn't want to be labeled a nerd. I'm smart enough to be in the academic group but I don't like studying and that's what they all do there. I'm not pretty enough to be in the "pretty girls" group. I love music but I don't have the talent to join the musical group. And I'm not rich enough to be in the rich people group. So, it seemed like I had nowhere that I belonged in while everybody had their cliques. And so the only group that welcomed me as I am was the "bad people" group - the rebels and such who are always in trouble, fighting in playgrounds, etc - I was always outspoken and I have no problem challenging a teacher or classmate.

I don't know why it was so important to belong to something... but it was for me. So, it was a challenge not to take the easy way out and just be affiliated with the "bad group".

As I matured - 3rd year in high school and such... - I eventually found my place - nowhere. This time, I became popular because I didn't care about any group. I got known for winning team sports tournaments and gaining academic team medals without having to be in this-or-that group. Which was kinda ironic. I didn't have any "real" best friends. I mean, the people who I call best friends wouldn't have me on their list of best friends. C'est la vie. I was happy with that.

Yeah, there were kids getting pregnant at 16 around us, there were kids who were druggies, there were kids who attempted suicide. But that was not my problem. I knew I was stronger than those people.

[Addz25]

After countless interviews with our youth (young adults), mastabation is linked to internet porn. Sad to say, I believe it is still the number one problem in the church right now.

Although this is slightly true, it isn't entirely. I struggled with masturbation for a few years but I've been able to overcome it and break the sin. i often didnt watch porn. in the non LDS world where sexual experimentation and the like is often glorified, both masturbation AND porn I feel become 2 separate, although related problems.

More on topic, definitely masturbation and sexual sins are struggles, as well as I'd say wearing provocative clothing, and definitely being shunned or not accepted by non LDS members. on a smaller scale not swearing and not using the Lord's name in vain as well

Edited July 20, 2010 by Addz25

[laflemardedu44]

One of my greatest challenge as a youth is the fact that there's not a lot of youth member in my school .

At the stakes activity we are 10 . i'm lucky because in my city we are 2 member of the same age but it's hard to be two examples when we're going to a school of 1200 students.

Here we dont have a lot of activities during the year so we're alot by ourself to live in the church even if our instructors are always here to help us but sometimes i wished there were more LDS youth in my city or in my stakes.

It's hard because we're far from the temple so i go when i can .

there's a lot of other difficulties with the medias, the friends, trying to make understand our friend why religion is important to me, try to explain everything .

[beckysoup61]

We do however as a 16 yr old those are not the pressures that i think are facing the average youth.

And many of the challenges some youth face, they bring upon themselves.

Maybe, my small town conservative up bringing changes my challenges vs. most but thats just my thought.

Are you kidding me?

At that age, I would have killed to have a talk in Church about any of those issues instead of beating the dead horse over and over again.

[Matthew0059]

I think Hemidakota has the best answer so far. Then again, I'm often inclined to think that.

While the topics Loudmouth listed are serious and worthy of discussion in a more private medium, I don't think a large youth conference is the best place to discuss any of those problems specifically. Someone searching for help in any of those areas can be encouraged to find it inside their wards, and will find said help (if they're blessed enough to have a strong bishop and/or youth leader). Some topics are of such a sensitive nature that they must be discussed very delicately- and a public youth conference is generally not the best place for such discussion.

Moscowite, I encourage you to prayerfully consider discussing spiritual apathy. If you think there might be youth who deal with any of the issues Loudmouth mentioned, I think encouraging everyone struggling with serious trials to seek the help of a trusted leader (read: bishop) would do worlds of good.

Kudos, by the way, for seeking out advice on this matter.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Matthew0059