A survey of Nepali teenagers conducted by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that self-awareness is the “foundation for all other skills we need to develop, in particular, our ability to cope with emotions and stress.” Therefore, the awareness of one’s feelings and reactions to situations is necessary before assessing the reasons behind them.About 92% of adolescents have specific goals and they have a sense of direction regarding their ambitions and aspirations. The survey shows that a majority of teenagers are attracted to medical services compared to other fields -- 21.6% teenagers aim to become doctors, nurses, pharmacists, or vets. However, 14 per cent of teenagers also seem to be attracted to government, semi-government and non-government sectors, 12.1 per cent of respondents are interested in the educational sector while 8.9 per cent are interested in getting involved in industrial and commercial enterprises or becoming independent contractors, or tourist guides.About 7.4 per cent are interested in skilled labour such as tailoring, masonry, carpentry and driving, and the interest of 5.3 per cent lies in work of a creative nature such as musicians, actors, dancers or writers. About 5 per cent aspire to become engineers or technicians, especially in the computer and construction industries or in the area of agriculture. Around 4.7 per cent want to join the police, army or other available security services.However, 11.8 per cent of teenagers from marginalized groups, 6 per cent of Indo-Aryan and 8.1 per cent of Tibeto-Burman teenagers are not definite about their career goals. “Four out of five respondents are confident that they will be able to achieve their goals, while the rest feel they will not be able to achieve their ambitions, mainly due to poverty and the lack of education,” states the survey report.The report further says, “Among those who believe they will be able to achieve their goals, about 80 per cent feel their own talent, hard work and ability to learn as well as good performance in vocational training or higher education will lead to success”, whereas around 12 per cent consider “family encouragement and financial support” the key factors in realising their ambitions.“Out of those who feel they will not be able to achieve their career goals, 38 per cent attribute an anticipated failure due to the lack of education. Another 34 per cent attribute it to poverty,” the survey report points out. The respondents perceive family problems, marriage, or work over-load as barriers to their goals. An overwhelming majority of girls, 16 per cent compared to a mere 3 per cent of boys consider family problems could thwart them from achieving their goals. Interestingly about 13 percent of boys compared to 6 per cent of girls “cite marriage as the main reason for failing to fulfil their ambitions,” the report adds.