Here's the middle millennial problem: the life we were sold and prepared for by our Baby Boomer parents is perhaps not possible anymore. I don't know about you but that leaves me feeling a bit jaded and pessimistic, to be perfectly honest. Where do we go from here?
We're more pragmatic and realistic than younger millennials because early on, we experienced recession-related unemployment and endured hard competition from older generations in the workforce.
We continue to struggle with non-affordable housing despite our incomes, and we lack the social and community connections of our parents and grandparents. This means, that during this time of disillusionment, we have few ways to cope with the stress and no benefits to show for the work.
Worst of all - we don't even really know why we're doing it. Boomers wanted stability and security after their parents lacked both during the war. Gen X wanted to balance career ambitions with personal priorities after seeing their Boomer parents burn out. Millennials, well, we're not sure any of these things are realistic for us, or that they'll bring us any more satisfaction than they did for the generations before us, who don't really seem to have life figured out after all.
We want something different, but we don't know what that is or what it looks like. Let's be clear, we aren't afraid of working hard; our parents instilled that in us. But we are also shamed for quitting anything because of the bad rap this generation's been given. So while we intuit that we're not ok, we tend to hide it, hoping that if we just work a little harder, life will work out for us, like our parents promised.
The very trait our parents promoted (optimism) is the one that's harming us. We are the seeking generation, searching for the good life, as yet, unlived, and coming to terms that it might just be up to us to build and create that life without a blueprint to follow.
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