One of the most fitting metaphors is the one that compares life to a journey. During the journey of our existence, as in a real journey, there is no lack of unexpected events, sudden detours, problems and arduous and tiring climbs. At times, as we proceed, we feel the need for a map to help us continue or for a sort of guide that leads on the most difficult, most stressful paths. Needs that are even more felt when you are still a boy and are taking the first steps towards adult life.
The psychotherapist of the developmental age Alberto Pellai and the psychopedagogue Barbara Tamborini then offer us some useful tools to face the most important journey that each of us undertakes in their recent Destination life (Mondadori, 2021, pp. 288, also e-book) in which face an increasingly topical issue: that of life skills, the skills necessary to live. In short, those cognitive, emotional and relational skills that allow us to effectively face the challenges of everyday life.
Let's just think about how many times, especially in adolescence and pre-adolescence, we ask ourselves if we are really able to cope with the problems and unforeseen events that life puts in front of us. Or we ask ourselves if we are capable of making decisions for long-term issues. And again, there is anguish because you do not feel able to manage stress, anxiety or to react promptly to an unexpected event. Well Alberto Pellai and Barbara Tamborini, without resorting to magical recipes or simplistic solutions, come to the aid by proposing seven essential tools (skills, in fact) to help you grow more aware of your abilities and more serene.
And what are these seven skills that a young person (and even more so an adult) cannot do without? First of all, the ability to solve problems or problem solving knowing from the outset that if there is a question, there is also a way to solve it. So the ability to make decisions, assuming that the less improvised in life the better. Thirdly, we must train ourselves to manage stress and fourth we must communicate effectively, even at the cost of struggling. Again: it is now essential in today's world to have an adequate digital competence, which is not reduced to using a social network or a smartphone, and one must be able to establish empathy with those around us, finding the right harmony. Finally, seventh competence: we must strive to think creatively because creativity is the ingredient that makes life more beautiful.
In short, these are the seven skills that should become part of the baggage of anyone who faces the path of adult life.
A baggage that Alberto Pellai and Barbara Tamborini help us to compose by helping us for each competence with stories of practical cases, small tests, advice, a music playlist and many films to see and books to read. So: are you ready to leave for the most important journey?