If you’re like me, you’re done with the same bullshit New Year resolutions that make sudden reappearances every December and January, like Toby Flenderson from Costa Rica:
Every January, Google searches for travel hacks, diet plans, and gym memberships peak. January 2018 is on pace to go even higher than the last 4 years.
Why does it feel like the only people seeing long-term gains from New Year resolutions are the companies repurposing them every single December and January? I mean, guess when gyms sign up the newest and most profitable members?
In 2018, instead of annual resolutions, I'm going for monthly, unconventional resolutions. Goals that don't trick me into buying anything. Goals that don't crash like a caffeine rush by the 3rd week of the year. Goals that might help others.
My January Resolution: Stop Hating Young Millennials
They're entitled, lazy, and ungrateful. They change or quit jobs too often. They all crave attention on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. They can't get off their phones. They use too many damn acronyms and emojis. They're incapable of having a decent face-to-face conversation. According to the authorities, they've killed off paper napkins, Hooters, motorcycles, soap bars, beer, romance, and just about everything else. And, that it's only a matter of time before they break the planet.
Like the Baby Boomers and Generation X before me, I too have felt similar sentiments about how "kids these days" are the worst. It was only weeks ago that I realized that all my friends and I ('86 babies) are categorically also millennials.
More importantly, I learned that young millennials, born 1990-2004, are the most screwed generation of our time.
For those of us lucky enough to have gone to and graduated from college before the crash of '08, count your blessings. While Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, and OG millennials faced our fair share of hardships growing up, the kids these days have it worst. We climbed the Rockies to secure our futures, they're climbing the Himalayas.
Take some time to read the report (brilliant graphics included). TL;DR? Collectively, millennials:
-have taken on 300% more student loan debt than our parents
-likely won't be retiring till they're 75
-have to work 4,500 hours of minimum wage jobs versus Baby Boomers who had to work 300 hours to pay for 4 years of college
-are fighting the next decade or two overcoming systemic disadvantages in virtually major life area such as housing, healthcare, employment, and education.
If you're cynical about young millennials' struggles, fine, let's assume your struggles were just as real. While working your way up in life, our elders didn't constantly avalanche us with shit talk and negative vibes about how we're the cause of every downfall of humanity. When we all received the "kids these days" rants, it was usually only from our parents, grandparents, and teachers; as much as we hated the lectures, they came from people we knew, respected, and trusted to keep us steady growing up.
Now, the negative vibes have evolved and expanded exponentially into cyber-shaming. Even in real life, it's bullying when grown-ass adults keep pestering kids over cell phone usage, knowing damn well the rest of us are just as addicted to social media, selfies, and our new iPhones. It's as if Boomers and Xers are deflecting blame when it's entirely possible that powerful individuals in their days set laws, policies, and trends in motion that ruined economic, healthcare, and political systems today. Their short-term benefits at our long-term expense.
For all of these reasons and more, I'm going 31 days of January to stop bitching about young millennials.
To stop judging their actions or words as good or bad, black or white. To ignore the noise, and discover how truly different young millennials are from the rest of us. To learn how they keep their head up and confront systematic struggles as underdogs. To appreciate new skills and abilities they've acquired as a result of growing up in a techno-centric world. To let go of the fear of future generations destroying this world. If 2016 and '17 taught me anything, it's that a small group of amateur adults with wealth and power are capable of doing far more damage than an entire generation of 70 million people combined.
What are you doing about your 2018 goals differently? Hit me up on Facebook or LinkedIn.
