"You kids don't know the meaning of hard work." "You want everything now and become enraged when you can't have it in under 30 seconds." "You have killed the meaning of proper romance and family life." "Maybe if you stopped spending so much money on coffee and avocado you could afford your rent this month."

"You all don't know how to socialize the right way, you literally would die without your social media." "Get off your lazy a** and get a job!" "You are all unambitious and whiny." "In my day we had to work to get to what we want." Or my all time favorite: "You all just expect everything to be handed to you and waste your days acting like spoiled, entitled children."

*insert further demeaning complaints/comments here*

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard such criticisms and rude remarks geared towards my generation, which falls between Generation Y/Millennials (1980-1994) and Generation Z (1995-2012). We tend to hear comments from older generations-typically people our parents' age, about how we want everything immediately without wanting to work for it, or that we are lazy and "don't know what hard work actually is," or that we waste our money and that's why a majority of us are broke.

Oh, no, Barbara, the reason why my generation is "broke" and why we daydream about mediocre housing as if it were as glamorous as living in a palace in France is because your generation wrecked our economy, self-esteem, and job market.

There. I said it.

Maybe if your generation didn't push for trickle-down economics, or took the time to teach us how to actually budget our money and run a household rather than the damn Pythagorean Theorem, or didn't lead us into two recessions which we still haven't recovered from, maybe everything would actually be more manageable for us right now. But this article isn't about pointing fingers, it's about voicing the stresses and worries of my generation to the generations who seem to be emotionally disconnected from us, refusing to hear our side.

If every Millenial/Gen X had a dollar for every time we heard comments and complaints like these, we'd have enough money to not only save this broken economy but to also each afford decent housing, all while indulging on our beloved avocado toast and vanilla frappes (insert eye roll here).

What literally enrages me to no end is just how little other generations actually understand how difficult it has been for my generation to grow up. What's frightening is that our elders don't seem to comprehend just how anxiety and depression have become the modern plague among youth, or how the suicide rate among teens/young adults is increasing almost daily, or how absolutely terrifying it is to be drowning in college debt and having few to no job prospects.

We are starting our lives later than our parents had, delaying traveling the world, marriage, starting our own families, buying our own houses, as it has become literally impossible to make enough money to live independently.

When you're 21/22 years old, the last thing you want is to move back in with your parents and be dependent. Each of us wants the independence that we are entitled to. Yes, I said it, ENTITLED. We, on the contrary to popular belief, are one of the hardest working, driven, but also, unfortunately, stressed out generations. So much is expected of us from our elders but it feels like we aren't getting the help or advice we need.

Most of us are working three jobs, putting ourselves through school, living with 4 or more roommates, and have at least some form of mental health issue. And we keep pushing forward, sometimes even neglecting our health, just to work that extra hour or drive that extra mile. We all work so, so hard, but all we seem to hear back is that we aren't doing enough, aren't working enough, aren't saving enough, etc.

When I talk to people over 50, they tell me how their one summer job paid their college tuition and that they immediately got hired after graduating. They also tell me how they could afford a whole apartment's rent with their starting salary. All of these things I want for myself and for my peers, but today, that situation is a rarity.

Personally, I'm feeling helpless and scared right now- along with practically everyone else my age. With graduation looming in the near future and the stress of figuring out what happens next, the fear of the unknown is what keeps me up at night and what occasionally sparks anxiety attacks. I feel like my whole life I've been preparing for the future, having people tell me what to do: following the directions of my parents, teachers, instructors etc.

I've spent my whole 21 years of life striving to do well in school, make tons of social connections, hold internships/jobs, learn proper etiquette and social skills, and become involved in many extracurriculars- only to find that it doesn't mean squat in the long run. Because whether you were Valedictorian, class president, or the star player on the basketball team, in the post-grad world, the harsh reality is that we're all one in the same.

Especially in today's society where everything seems like an impossibly steep hill to climb and where the promised "doors of opportunity" seem to only lead to dead ends.

There's a clip from the comedy show, Two Broke Girls, which highlights this perfectly. Three of the characters were working at a coffee shop. One said that he went to Harvard Law, the other said that she was from a wealthy family, while the third said that she didn't go to college at all. One of them then made the comment, "and we're all here working at the same dead-end job." While a comedic scene, it definitely holds a darker content. Most of us are going to be facing a similar scenario ourselves just to get on our feet, it's just the way it is now.

For my generation, nothing is promised anymore and so much uncertainty looms in the air. Yes, I stress about literally everything these days because as a soon-to-be college graduate entering the real world, jobs are few and far between, money is unbearably tight, relationships/friendships begin and end in a matter of weeks, expenses add up, and luxury living becomes a studio apartment.

Gone are the days of guidance or people who want to help you like they did when you were little. Gone are the days where people will tell you what you should and shouldn't do. Gone are the days where you knew what was expected of you. I'm certainly not the only one feeling this way. I literally want to cry just thinking about all the amazing, hard working, genuine people I know who are physically, mentally, and/or financially suffering due to all of these societal pressures.

No one should be this stressed out or anxious at this age. So many people in my generation feel like their lives are ending, while they've only just begun. The number of people I know with severe anxiety, depression, or suicidal tendencies is not only heartbreaking, but frightening.

This generation holds so much potential, yet we're dropping like flies, hitting ridiculously tough obstacles, and forever chasing that dollar sign just to live comfortably. We are working so hard at making a living that we are forgetting to make a life. It's not our faults that the world we live in is so difficult to maneuver. We only want what every generation has ever wanted, yet we are the first to not be accomplishing such.

All we young people can do is just hold on. Hold on to our dreams and goals, looking at the long-term future rather than the unpleasant short-term. We can't let unfair criticism from our elders sway us anymore. One day we will be the ones running the world, and it will be vital to ensure that our children's generations grow up in a more accepting, helpful, and opportune society. We may have had to suffer, but from this suffering we have become resilient, driven, and determined to get to where we want.

I see us as a generation that will actually change the world and break boundaries, as we honestly already are. We need to live for ourselves and tune out the stereotypical comments that are constantly being thrown at us. We need to spend time on ourselves and maintain our health just as much as we need to spend time on our work. We will show those who doubt us just how much we are capable of. We will achieve our dreams and one day look back and be able to say "we made it."

So, Generation Stressed, our time is now. It's time to take back our lives and take on the world.