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This paper presents insight into how rural young adults in the rural areas of Oost-Groningen, The Netherlands, and Südharz, Germany, deal with their rural identity with regard to different future horizons. This paper applies future horizons instead of intended future plans to emphasize the open and uncertain nature of young adults' aspired future. Based on 15 biographical interviews and a survey to geographically contextualize these interviews, the results show how rural young adults can have parallel future horizons to maintain several options open in which they all aim to preserve a rural identity. This paper illustrates how rural young adults compromise a rural identity with aspirations elsewhere in a staying or rural horizon elsewhere. In addition, the results show how they deal with rural identities by further internalizing and externalizing their rural identities with variations of embracing aspects of a rural identity with regard to different future horizons. The paper concludes that young adults can be considered, however also out of uncertainty about the future, as active participants of their future who apply parallel and temporal horizons and still preserve a rural identity. • Future horizons capture the open nature of young adults' futures. • Young adults apply parallel and temporal horizons to preserve a rural identity. • Rural young adults refocus their rural identity to align it with parallel aspirations. • Regional contexts matter in how rural identities are changed for future horizons. • Young adults can be considered as active participants in shaping their futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]