What Matters Most: A Young Adult's Roadmap For Life

What do you give a child who's leaving home and about to depart for college: a computer, a new phone, money-nothing at all? A. J. Wasserstein decided to give his son, Michael, a roadmap to help navigate the transition from childhood to independent young adult, on the eve of embarking on his own autonomous life.Recognizing that a child leaving home is a transitional event for both family and child, this roadmap is a compilation of many conversations with his children and a few he wishes he'd had. Believing your young adult years, your twenties, are filled with choices and decisions that will form the foundation for the rest of your life, the author provides a framework to better understand the choices that will increase your chances of discovering who you are and finding enduring happiness and satisfaction.This practical and actionable roadmap touches on many of the key transition points a young adult will encounter, including becoming aware of who you are, understanding the difference between happiness and success, thinking about career choices, why and whom you marry (likely the single most important choice you will ever make and how to do it better), a practical approach to career and financial options, and where family and friends, religion and spirituality fit into your life.Wasserstein is not prescriptive and does not define specific answers or paths. Rather, the roadmap, offered from a place of unconditional love, encourages his son to explore and self-discover who he is and how he can find durable life fulfillment and happiness.