Today’s parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents can’t figure out what’s wrong with us “youngsters;” they don’t understand why we can’t just work as hard as they always have. They think we’re too entitled, excursive and elated, and not grateful, grounded or goal-oriented enough.
The Atlantic recently published an article entitled “Why People Under 35 Are So Unhappy,” which practically labelled our generation an overly ambitious, detached and unrealistic chunk of society. People with a deranged idea of how the real world works: a generation completely unaware that work is merely a means of survival.
Now, for some kids, this may be true. They take searching for passion so far that they forget that someone has to pay the bills. Sometimes, their mommies and daddies are to blame for paving the delusional roads marked "I’ll always be employed," "Money is not an object" and "I am the best" for their children. Those parents seem to forget that that one-way street might carry their kiddos through grade school, maybe as far as high school, but it has to end some time.
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Life needs crossroads and detours to be worth anything, and people need to be challenged if they ever want to be taken seriously. In that sense — I think the Atlantic hit it right on the head: Some kids are morbidly unhappy because they never see the world in a way that does not favor them. For them, college and careers will never be enough, primarily because they believe that they themselves are more than perfect.
I, however, do not fit in this category.
My parents were always hard on me. There was never any pity or lowering of expectations due to extenuating circumstances; I needed to work harder than everyone else if I wanted to be better than anyone else.
While this mentality has allowed me to excel in life, especially when it’s coupled with a dash of depression and a sliver of perfectionism — I find myself among the 62 percent.
I am only one of over half of 18 to 25 year olds that can admit to suffering from a monumental amount of stress and anxiety.
Now I know what you’re thinking: "Isn’t everyone stressed at that age? You’re just becoming adults; we all went through it!"
According to the Huffington Post, no, you didn’t all go through it.
This “delusion” and “ambition” our generation’s students so unfortunately possess has led a majority of us into a crippling, unbearable and painful way of living. We have the kind of stress that results in dangerous habits ranging from binge drinking to never leaving our rooms at all.
This idea that we have to be the best at everything we do and simultaneously love what we’re doing is keeping us from truly being happy.
To be happy, our expectations must be more realistic. It is okay to dream, but there is a difference between an expectation and a goal.
Goals can be lofty, they can be ever-changing — hell, they can be unrealistic. Our expectations on the other hand must be grounded. They too will likely evolve into bigger and better things as you become a bigger and better individual. That transformation should happen naturally.
For now, we need to accept that we are not ever going to start at the top, that there will never be a room full of people who whole-heartedly and unselfishly wish for us to succeed, and that most chances we take have a 50% chance of failure.
Still, we should never stop trying. Do not let them tell you that the salary is more important than the love for your work. Do not let them think that your new-age ambition is not valuable.
Finally, do not allow the pressure of the world scare you into missing out on life, because while it is stressful, in the end it’s all we’ve really got.
Related Links:
How to get Millennials off your lawn
Technology: The Millennial's cross to bear
Reach the columnist at Kendra.Penningroth@asu.edu or follow @KPenningroth on Twitter.
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Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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