As students, as 20-something year olds, as the Millennial generation, we go through the motions of life without a whole lot of thought. Our responsibilities are plainly written out for us—to go to school, to study, to secure a successful career. The norms of life are set in stone, and while that is as easy as it is acceptable, sometimes by doing just that, we miss the whole point of life.
We are the next generation of scientists, doctors, engineers, and chief executive officers; we’re the next generation that will shape the future. What the world needs from us as individuals is not to blindly follow paths that have already been drawn out but to venture beyond that.
These are four things the world needs a little more of from you so that Millennials will be remembered for something more than just the generation that had our cell phones glued to our hands...
Your passion.
The world needs you to find something that evokes a feeling of fondness and enthusiasm and to run with it. We all have something that ignites our interest, whether it’s writing haikus, creating music, taking pictures, playing soccer, or golf, or even cooking. However, few of us see the practicality of turning our interests into something we are passionate about. Instead, we brush interests off as hobbies and fail to cultivate them into something more. While we may want to, we don’t always see the point of turning interest to passion because the things we are passionate about usually come second to what we are expected to do, such as schoolwork, or studying.
Once we accept this expectation, we forget passion and we settle our interests as mere pleasurable pastime.
In truth, the world doesn’t need any more of this; there are enough people out there that have traded passion for norm. Instead, the world needs you to do more of whatever makes your eyes radiate and your pulse race and it needs you to stop letting others force you to live ordinarily.
Your confidence.
More often than we like, we are clouded by our own apprehensions and self-doubt and we let what other people think of us hinder our growth as individuals. The world doesn’t need this anymore; it is lacking in risk takers.
It needs people to be true to who they are, people who aim for their dreams, who fight for what they believe in, because nothing extraordinary has been achieved by anyone who unceasingly doubted themselves. The world needs you to sit up tall, with your shoulders straight and with your insecurities to the side of you, instead of on your lap.
Your compassion.
The world needs you to listen, to understand, and to feel. It needs you to be kind because in a world where racism and hatred still very much exist, people with compassion are the ones who hold the seams together. The world needs you to keep an open mind, to see multiple sides of the same story, and to lend fresh perspective to those who lack empathy and concern.
Your honest opinion.
In a world where lying, cheating, and stealing plague our everyday life, people forget honesty exists. We avoid giving our honest opinions in all forms—whether it’s telling your friend he’s too good for his significant other or telling your sister her new makeup routine makes her look more like a scared owl than that vlogger on YouTube. We do all of this because we fear how others will respond to these opinions.
But what the world needs is you to voice your opinions, in all honesty, because it helps us build better communication and more meaningful relationships. Not to spit out unwanted opinions left and right, but if asked, to be straightforward about how you feel instead of dancing around the fact. It saves people time and energy and though initially things might get bitter, the result of giving your honest opinion will never be worse than the white lies we slip out instead.
