Are you a young person who is concerned about your future? Do you wish you understood more about what goes on in school, in your relationships and friendships, and in your own life? Do you ever feel like other people make all of your decisions for you because you don't have the knowledge and/or the strength to make decisions for yourself? Are you someone who does well in school, but has no idea what to do in your life or your career? Perhaps you are a young person who answered 'yes' to all of the previous questions, and you are interested in gaining the knowledge and insight that will help you with everything. If you are like most young people, you have had all of these questions in your mind at one time or another. Since these questions are a lot to deal with, you may have a good answer for one of them, but you are still missing the answers for the others. A worse possibility is that you may have none of these answers and you have told yourself that you will figure it all out later. Worse than that, you may drift through your life and never gain the understanding you need, accepting a life that has less opportunity and less happiness than it should really have. The truth is that your life has the potential for great opportunity and happiness. Understanding yourself and the people around you is the key to making good decisions and gaining the opportunities and the happiness that result. Gaining the understanding you need is much easier than you think. In 'Navigating the Awkward Years', Randall Horner provides the knowledge and insight that you need to reach your best. After an introductory chapter, the second chapter helps you to truly begin to understand yourself based on your own knowledge, beliefs, and ideas, combined with your own attributes and gifts that lead you toward your true goals and desires in life. The third chapter, entitled 'How to Think', helps you to develop your own decision making processes based on whether or not a decision fits with who you really are. This builds decision making structure which can help make many decisions in advance of a situation that might otherwise be ruled by peer pressure or emotions. The remaining chapters cover subjects such as dating, relationships, sex, gaining the most from classes, handling disappointment and criticism, high school sports, and how to build your own advisory staff. The common thread to each chapter is that any decision that is needed can be made based on who you really are and whether or not the decision fits with your true goals and desires. Although this book is short compared to many others, it is long on insight and knowledge that can impact your life in a very positive way. You will have what you need for successfully 'Navigating the Awkward Years'.