Embrace opportunities – but don’t agonise over decisions

Lithuania has enjoyed rapid economic growth in recent times. This has given young people opportunities, both in the job market and when starting their own businesses. Opportunities boost life satisfaction, but so does a pragmatic attitude to the decision-making you need to navigate it.

Professor Paulius Skruibis, psychologist and president of the East European Association of Existential Therapy, believes there’s a high level of optimism among young Lithuanians, and they don’t feel overwhelmed by the abundance of opportunity: “When we have too much choice, we can agonise over whether we’re making the right choice. In countries in the West, one can have so many opportunities, you can get lost in [the choice]. It’s difficult to, say, choose a profession or choose a partner – it’s always a nightmare deciding what’s the best choice.

“[You can be happier] when you remember there is no best way, no single best decision. When you choose something, you have one direction to go in. You choose differently then you have another, and that’s OK. Accept that you can never know what’s the best decision,” he says.

Seek therapy without shame

Professor Kairys says: “It’s very encouraging that young Lithuanians have largely shed the stigma of the Soviet mental health crisis. The mental health system in the Soviet Union was often used as a tool of repression against dissidents, and going to a mental health specialist was associated with automatic stigma.

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