How to Encourage Your Emerging Adult to Build a Life with Meaning and Purpose

Helping your emerging adult build a meaningful life isn’t about prescribing a career path or setting expectations. Instead, it’s about creating a supportive environment fostering their exploration of values, strengths, and passions. As they navigate the often-chaotic journey from adolescence to adulthood, your role in encouraging them to build a life filled with purpose can be profoundly influential.

Encouraging a sense of meaning and purpose doesn’t require dramatic life changes or specific accomplishments. It’s about guiding them to find what genuinely resonates with them, helping them become self-aware, and supporting them in making choices that align with their unique vision of fulfillment.

Here are some practical ways to support your emerging adult as they build a life that is meaningful and full of purpose.

1. Encourage Self-Reflection and Self-Discovery

For your emerging adult to discover what makes their life meaningful, they first need to understand who they are. Self-reflection is a crucial aspect of finding purpose, and it’s one young adults often don’t prioritize on their own. To help foster this, you can encourage them to spend time journaling, engaging in new experiences, and exploring their passions. Ask questions to help prompt self-reflection, such as:

• “What activities make you lose track of time?”
• “Are there specific topics or causes you feel deeply passionate about?”
• “How do you envision contributing to the world?”

You can also share stories of your own journey toward meaning, discussing both the successes and challenges you faced along the way. By encouraging them to explore and ask questions, you’re helping them build a foundation of self-awareness, which is essential to finding a purpose-driven life.

2. Support a Growth Mindset Over Perfectionism

A mindset focused on growth, learning, and improvement can empower your emerging adult to see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. Many young adults feel the pressure to succeed quickly or perfectly, but this pressure can deter them from exploring their passions or experimenting with different career paths.

Help your child adopt a growth mindset by focusing on the value of learning rather than the outcome of any specific pursuit. For example, instead of asking if they “won” or “lost” in a particular situation, ask them what they learned or how they grew from the experience. Celebrate their efforts and improvements rather than focusing solely on results.

When young adults feel encouraged to learn, adapt, and take risks, they are more likely to pursue interests and goals that feel purposeful rather than simply “safe.” This growth mindset is key to cultivating a meaningful life, as it allows them to build confidence, resilience, and a healthy relationship with personal development.

3. Help Them Connect with Their Values

One of the cornerstones of a purpose-driven life is living in alignment with one’s values. These values may vary greatly from person to person, and they’re likely evolving as your emerging adult matures. Encourage them to spend time considering what truly matters to them—whether it’s integrity, creativity, community, independence, or empathy.

One way to support this value exploration is through values-based exercises or discussions. You might suggest they make a list of what they currently value most and talk about how those values could inform their decisions. For example, if they value community, volunteering or joining groups that prioritize social good might be rewarding for them.

Keep in mind your own values may not completely align with theirs, and that’s okay. Encourage them to follow their own values, as this authenticity is what will ultimately lead to a more meaningful and purpose-filled life.

4. Encourage Diverse Experiences

A meaningful life often emerges from a variety of experiences that help a young adult see the world through different perspectives. Whether it’s through traveling, trying different jobs, joining clubs, or even exploring hobbies, diverse experiences help them learn more about their own interests and potential.

If possible, offer support that enables them to explore these experiences. This doesn’t mean funding a trip abroad or sponsoring every new interest; instead, you might encourage them to take internships, volunteer, or participate in community events. Diverse experiences don’t need to be expensive or time-consuming—they can come from anything that expands their worldview and challenges them to step outside their comfort zone.

By embracing a variety of experiences, your emerging adult will gain insights into what brings them joy, satisfaction, and a sense of purpose. These experiences also help them develop adaptability, resilience, and a deeper understanding of themselves.

5. Promote Service to Others

Many people find their greatest sense of purpose comes from helping others. Encourage your emerging adult to consider ways they might give back to their community, whether through volunteer work, involvement in social causes, or simply by supporting friends and family. Service can offer a powerful sense of fulfillment, as it connects them to something larger than themselves.

If they’re uncertain about where to start, suggest they think about the skills or passions they already have. For instance, if they enjoy writing, perhaps they could volunteer to help a local nonprofit with grant writing or social media. If they have a love for animals, volunteering at an animal shelter could be a natural fit. Encouraging them to find ways to serve others not only benefits those around them but also reinforces their sense of connection and purpose.

Service doesn’t have to mean a lifelong commitment; it can be a temporary endeavor that opens doors to other meaningful pursuits. In any form, it helps build empathy, gratitude, and a deeper understanding of what truly matters.

Encouraging emerging adults to build a life of purpose doesn’t require you to have all the answers for them. Instead, your role is to provide guidance, support, and a non-judgmental space as they explore their path. Purpose is a highly individual pursuit, often shaped by personal experiences, self-discovery, and the values they develop along the way.

The journey to a life of meaning isn’t about achieving a specific career or status—it’s about aligning actions with values, cultivating a growth-oriented mindset, and creating connections with the world around them. By encouraging self-reflection, celebrating growth, supporting values exploration, embracing diverse experiences, and promoting service to others, you’re helping your emerging adult lay the foundation for a purpose-driven life.

Remember this journey will have twists and turns. There may be times of uncertainty or doubt, but by fostering an environment that encourages exploration and resilience, you’re empowering them to find fulfillment on their own terms. And as they grow, you’ll see life with meaning and purpose isn’t a destination, but an ongoing journey—one you have played an invaluable part in shaping.