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How To Stay Positive When You, A Millennial, Are Surrounded By Baby Boomers

That negativity is something that they never get rid of. Because they see everything through gray lenses, they want all of us to as well.

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baby boomers

I am a millennial baby, born in 1996. I have grown up in the generation where playing outside was still a thing but when you came inside, you could go online and research anything. While we were growing up and changing, so was the technology. We have grown up knowing that if we wanted to, we could reach the stars.

With that being said, I currently work in an office with people mostly from the "baby boomer" generation. While being here for almost a year, I have learned many things. All of these things I believe are worth sharing because if you are a baby boomer, you may want to take a look at millennials differently and if you are a millennial, you may want to change a few things as well.

If there is one thing I have noticed about us millennials, it's that no matter how we feel about our jobs, we go in every day with a great attitude, ready to make today better than yesterday. My prime example would be myself. Every day, I wake up and come to work in a good mood. I say hello to everyone, and feel ready to take on the day.

(Especially because I had a good jam session on my way over in the car lol).

Anyway, every time I come in and finish saying hello, there are about three "hellos" I get back. Sometimes I get a grunt back or not even a word. Now I may be young, but I was raised to be polite and use so my words, so don't ask me what that little grunt means because I don't even know. What I do know is that these people are going to be grumpy all day long from that one little grunt.

Another thing I noticed from baby boomers is that they swear we don't know anything. I have to admit that when I started working in the office, there were a few things I didn't know. Like where certain mail went, where to file away certain papers, who to leave certain messages for, etc. All those things I was able to learn in less than a week as long as someone explained them to me. I even started to do them faster than anyone else in my office, and because of that, I would always get questioned if I put it in the right way, if I wrote the names on the paper, or a date, etc.

Either way, I know I did the task correctly. I had done it faster, so they assumed I did it wrong. That would always be a battle when I started working here. I would get annoyed because I knew I did things correctly. But because I was younger, they would believe that was a good reason to question me.

The one thing that really aggravates me when I am at work is the negativity. As a young person, we have all these goals and dreams. We believe that no matter what age, these dreams can be achieved. But some of the baby boomers I work with always have some negative notion to add. For example, I could say that I want to go to a poor city and feed the homeless for a day. They would answer me with a list of reasons why it wouldn't work, or how bad of an idea it is etc. That negativity is something that they never get rid of. Because they see everything through gray lenses, they want all of us to as well.

Now, granted, not every baby boomer I work with is like that. Some I can have the most meaningful conversations I have ever had within one day. Some of them will also help me out whenever I need it, and if I am upset for any reason those people are sure to make me laugh until I cry. It is those other baby boomers that I believe need to change up a little bit. It makes me realize that when I get older, I don't want to be like that. I want to be cheerful. I want to believe that something good can come from any situation.

So from one millennial to another, don't be discouraged. They might not change how they are at this stage in their lives, but you can change how you will end up! And if you are a baby boomer, try thinking about how you're treating the millennial next to you.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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