YOUNG PEOPLE ASK Am I Ready to Leave Homee?

Am I Prepared?

O Social skills.

Do you get along well with your parents and siblings?  If not, you might assume that life will be easier when you move in with a friend. Maybe so. But consider what Eve, 18, says:  "Two of my friends  moved in together.  They were best friends before they shared the apartment, but they just couldn't live with each other. One was neat,the other was messy. One was spiritually-minded, the other not so much.  It just didn't work!'

Erin, 18, wants to leave home. Still, she says:  "You can learn a lot about how to get along with people while living at home.  You learn how to solve problems and make compromises. I've noticed that those who leave home to avoid  disagreements with their parents  learn to run away from conflicts, not to resolve them." 

O Personal spiritual routine. Some leave home with the specific intention of escaping their parent's religious routine. Others fully intend to maintain a good personal program of Bible study and worship but soon drift into bad habits. How can you learn to avoid 'shipwreck of your faith'?  -1 Timothy 1:19. 

Don't just thoughtlessly adopt your parent's religious beliefs. Jehovah God wants all of us to prove to ourselves the things we believe.  (Romans 12:1, 2)  So establish a good personal routine of Bible study and worship, and then stick to it.  Why not write your spiritual routine on a calendar and see if you can maintain it for a month without your parents having to prod you to do so?

Finally, the third question you need to consider is . . .

Next time:  YOUNG PEOPLE ASK Am I Ready to Leave Home? -Where Am I headed?

From the Awake! magazine