You Can Break Through the Resistance and Move Forward in Life.

6 Early Warning Signs of Failure to Launch

1. HIGHLY DEPENDENT: When a young adult is unable to sustain financial, life skills, and/or emotional independence.

   • Financially Dependent: Parents are paying some or all of their adult child’s food, rent, or living expenses.

   • Entitled at Home: While living at home a young adult may feel entitled to resources such as laundry or meals and not contributing (e.g., is messy and rarely clean up after themselves).

   • Emotionally Immature: Reliant solely on family/parents for emotional support, seemingly psychologically immature with difficulty managing emotions (e.g., frequent anxiety attacks) and mood swings.

2. AVOIDANT BEHAVIOR: When an emerging adult averts responsibility and is unwilling to face distressing interactions.

   • Procrastinating: Constantly delaying getting started or putting things off to the last minute and lacking follow through.

   • Escaping: Through overuse of technology (i.e. video games) or substance use (i.e. vaping, marijuana, or alcohol abuse).

   • Lying: Evading tough situations or repercussions by lies of omission (not voluntarily telling the truth or the whole truth) or lies of commission (flat-out falsehoods).

3. SELF-SABOTAGE: When a 20-something is continually unsuccessful and frequently rejected at school, work, or in relationships.

   • Quitting: Withdrawing multiple semesters of college or repeatedly quitting or getting fired from jobs.

   • Minimum Effort: Doing the bare minimum amount of work to get by.

   • Burning Bridges: Destroying relationships and opportunities.

4. NO MOTIVATION: When a young adult feels hopeless and seems to lack ambition and excitement for life.

   • Low Energy: Always tired and having trouble getting out of bed.

   • Lacking Drive and Discipline: Appearing lazing and having little to no work ethic.

   • Dispassionate: Easily bored, apathetic, uninterested and seemingly indifferent.

5. LACKING DIRECTION: When an emerging adult feels lost, has no vision for their life or career and has no plan for moving forward.

   • Lacking Goals: Not having stated goals or having unrealistic goals and expectations.

   • Indecisive Feeling ambivalent and unwilling to commit to bigger future decisions such as college major and career paths or smaller decisions such as what job to apply to or where to live

   • Lost: Feeling uncertain about the future and living without a plan for what’s next.

6. LOW CONFIDENCE: Feeling uncertain and anxious about the future, suffering from crippling self-doubt and low self-esteem.

   • Anxious: When a young person is uncertain of what to do, what to expect or of their abilities, they experience crushing apprehension and dread (e.g, ruminating and overthinking).

   • Easily Overwhelmed: Frequently flooded with intense stress and overcome with fear rendering young adults powerless and immobile.

   • Inadequacy: Lacking self-esteem (not feeling good enough) or low self-worth (not seeing intrinsic value e.g., “I don’t deserve to be happy because I’m lazy and a loser.”).