In fact I think that if someone even suggests that they do understand being young then they are lying, because it is a phenomenon that is unexplainable as much as it is unpredictable.

According to the powers that be, a young person is one aged between 12 and 25.

These people may be identified as having characteristics such as feeling as if there are no clear answers, that there is no right path for them, that somehow along the way of trying to find themselves they have come up with a big, fat blank.

All through our lives, school and employment, we are positioned in a trajectory that applauds achievement and accomplishments and deplores listlessness and failure.

This inevitably leads to a lot of young people either burning themselves out from quests of over-achievement or becoming somewhat disheartened by the feeling that they will never ``make it'' and therefore falling in the undesirable statistics of some form of delinquency.

This is a massive amount of pressure, clearly, but it is what the youth are really struggling with the juggling act of employment and family life, of friends and of trying to get decent grades, of looking good and of finding love.

So then, why is it that that we young people are finding ourselves confused and under pressure? And how do we deal with these growing pressures?

Funnily enough, I have no clear answers. What I do know is that none of us is alone. All we can do is try our best at everything we do, whether it be our apprenticeships or our study or our social lives.

The trick is to be happy, to be content with the life that we have been given and to be open-minded about changes and transformations in ourselves, our community and the people we interact with every day.

Don't get frustrated, get active. Join a sports team or do something you have never even considered doing, because the chances are you will have fun and stop that busy brain from ticking into oblivion.

Being young and confused is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be liberating.

Just because you cannot make a clear picture of yourself in 10 years' time doesn't mean that hope is lost. It just means that today you may want to be a firefighter, maybe tomorrow

a pilot and then maybe ... who knows?