Category : Articles

Sub Category : Motivation

All Millennials, Please Stand Up, part one


     I’ve met a few people who like to blame “millennials” for being narcissistic assholes and what not. These uninformed people are also my age, 32, while they wave their fingers, unknown to the fact they themselves are of the same group they consider assholes. I hope they’ve figured it out by now. I can’t rid myself of the feeling brought about from the imagined shame on their soft, young faces, reddened under full heads of bright hair after a confident reference to themselves as the Gen X’ers of America, while among a group of 40 to 50-year-olds. 
     Here it is for those who don’t yet know: A millennial is anyone born between 1980 and 1994 (AKA Gen-Y.1 and Gen Y.2) after our Boomer parents, who want to understand us and constantly fight with an earlier generation of Post-War Cohorts, who feel forgotten. And we can’t forget about the younger group who my uninformed friends were actually referring to, Gen-Z. All they want is to know they will have to face in the future. (There are also Baby Boomers, and Generation Jones—the years differ everywhere you look but this is what the masses have decided on.)
     We millennials are a unique generation because we grew up during the technological revolution, with a shrinking workforce, loads of dirt, high rents, and low wages keeping us from graduating into the next phase of life as quickly as those who came before us did. We didn’t witness the birth of the computer, but we saw its rapid growth and evolution, along with the almighty internet. Millennials are more familiar with the internet than every generation except the Gen-X’ers. But what sets us apart from them is that we remember the time when the internet was unknown. Shocking to think, I know.
     Besides all of this, we’ve also witnessed 9/11, the War on Terror, a little of the War on Drugs, Occupy Wall Street, the emergence of climate change, mass shootings in public schools and public places, sociopathic corporate person- and parenthood, national surveillance, and a grid locked Congress—basically a shit ton of fear and very little hope. People act like this is merely business as usual, but these are the days that are trying, beating down the soles of a generation.
     They may beat us down, but we’ve not we’re not broken. We may be scared, angry, disappointed, but we are still hopeful. We may have a reputation for not finishing what we start, but, in the larger picture, we aren’t giving up. We have rather large problems to face. We’ve been handed down a system that’s self-destructing: socially, economically, politically, psychologically, environmentally. Also, what lies at the heart of these crises is a spiritual issue. 
    Many people believe the millennial struggle is not that unique. I can see where this comes from, but what I’d ask these people is, “Wasn’t your generation told the same thing? Now, look at everything. It’s worse.”
    I believe we should believe we are unique. That we must live our lives in a delusion of grandeur and peace instead. It would be foolish for us to continue living in the conventional ways people have been living and expect a different result.
      To further this point, millennials also suffer high rates of apocalyptic anxiety and existential doom—it’s not just the Emo kids, either. This was only amplified during the Great Recession, when psychologists recorded us to have the highest perceived amount of stress of any living generation. Our stress is existential, interpersonal, and financial. Depression impacts us on a day-to-day basis, when we worry about the future. We struggle with the idea that our entire value and worth depend on how well we perform in a toxic society. We constantly compare our lives to others, pretending to be happy even when we’re not at all. What immobilizes us is that we’ve been taught to pretend to be happy even when we’re not and don’t know what to do about it. But the worst part of it all is while we’re getting screwed over by a rigged system, we still have to smile and thank our goddamned authority figures so we can use them on our resume as references in an increasingly competitive job market. 
     Competitiveness has become the one thing that will get you to the top in any corporation or job. And for some reason, we see this as success, and our success measures our level of happiness. What some of us don’t realize is that sometimes allowing yourself to be average and to develop at your own timing is the healthiest approach if you want to succeed at anything and feel happy. So much of our self-image hangs on how powerful and influential we can be or whether we’re able to fulfill our childhood dreams. And this stresses us the fuck out.
     I feel bad for some of my peers who, while in their 20s, married the first and only person they dated and already have a family now while in their early 30s.  That’s not what our 20s are meant for—not throwing ourselves into a thoughtless marriage with the first person we see. And what the hell is the rush?
     Our 20s are meant for trial and error, to be poor, horny, and confused, which is exciting; not wasted on changing diapers and fighting with the one and only person you’re allowed to make love with, never venturing out. I thought our generation enjoyed shopping. We must have a bunch of quick shoppers.
      Getting hitched in your 20s isn’t the smartest idea either. These ten years just may be when you are the most emotionally unstable in your development. I don’t even want to imagine going through what I’d experienced in my 20s with a loved one constantly by my side; much less, with a baby. You may never be as poor as you are in your 20s, but you may never be as hotter and horny, either. It’s a time when you focus on doing the inner work that will turn you into the person who can change the world. If you went with the family thing during or right after college, I believe you’ve done some work on yourself but not near the amount it takes, only because you’ve had to share your time. But there’s still time to catch up. I’ve had to learn that the strength of my sense of inner self relies more on my ability to fail and keep persevering than it does on the outcome of my efforts.
     The ages between 18 to 29, and sometimes later, are known as the period of “emerging adulthood” by psychologists. It’s defined by the joys and perils of personal freedom. We’re exploring identities and getting as many experiences as we can before we make big committed choices about love and work. We’re discovering our interests, lifestyle preferences, and the many options that exist for us in this big, wide world. 
     It’s a time we do not want to waste.