"See where that couple is at your ten-year reunion. Sloan too. People with ideas of what they want to do very often do not end up doing exactly it. Whatever Sloan does will be magnificent, I cannot say as much for the soon-to-be newlyweds, I do not know them, they may be perfectly happy, but it is very likely they will end up living lives different from what they expect." Dark replied, giving advice he'd give to any uncertain teenager or young adult. But then he turned and looked back at Alec, speaking directly and firmly, "And you did not have the benefit many of your peers had to plan their futures in a normal way. You had to worry about surviving until the next month, what time did you have to think about the future? What time did you have when you were not sure when you would eat next? What time did I have when bombs were falling? Sloan, for all of the hardships she has with how her family is, has always been in a situation where the future feels real and actionable, she has never had to focus all of her attention on the present. You have not always been so fortunate. You do not need to measure yourself by a metric which does not apply. Anyway, people your age are meant to be figuring out their place in the world. Psychologists talk about it. You are meant to want to explore, if you never do then you are can end up in identity foreclosure, and that can be just as harmful as when you have absolutely no idea what you want, regardless of if you are exploring or not."
