If you were born between the years 1987 and 1997, you, my friend, are what is referred to as a "Millennial." We are becoming known as the best and the worst generation to grow up for many reasons. We are considered lazy, spoiled and entitled. We are also one of the first generations where a high school degree is pointless beyond a sheet of paper to help us get into college, and if we want real careers, a bachelor's degree probably won't be enough either. I can go on and on about the economic downfall brought upon us from the baby boomer generation that is being left to our "lazy" generation to fix, but I think there are enough people arguing through the internet for that cause as it is. The main point that I am trying to make is that in this generation and in our society today, it's OK to feel a little lost.
A main part of what's wrong with our generation are the expectations set upon us. It's widely understood that we now have to go to college, so by the age of 17 or 18, we must go from being in high school to knowing what college we will attend and what we want to do for the rest of our lives—no pressure. I don't have a single friend that hasn't changed their major at least once and way more friends than that who admit they have no idea what they will do with their major; they just had to pick something junior year and those classes seemed manageable. The stress of exams, the pressure to be the best and be involved, the struggles of social lives as well as family matter, along with possibly having to work or make a little money here in there has been enough to send many people that I know to the hospital, especially around finals.
It may seem strange that we fall so deep into trying to be the best, but what choice are we given in a world that tells us that we have to be to survive? Jobs are getting hard to come by and when you do find a position, you most certainly are not the only one applying for it. We are expected to have experience that we have not been allowed to obtain yet while having good grades and great social skills all written up in a nice thick resume. These are the things implanted in our heads as soon as college starts, and although we may not care at first, the realization really starts to kick in for most around junior year.
Being a woman is a scare all on its own. We are expected to still be the homemakers and get married and have children, yet be progressive and have careers and be self-sufficient. Again, no pressure.
In the midst of all of this, a lot of people are throwing their hands up in the air and walking away from it all for the most part. We are taking our time getting our degrees, traveling and taking semesters off to get our heads together, work or just have fun while we still can. It's OK to not know what we are doing with the rest of our lives right now. It's OK to travel and explore if you can and want to. Make friends and meet new people, go out a little bit too often and make memories outside of a classroom. If you are out of school, it's OK if you don't have a career your first day into "the real world." Maybe you worked your butt off in school and it's time for you to work odd-jobs and travel and decide where life is supposed to take you.
We have to stop taking life so seriously; it's becoming detrimental to our health. Maybe it's where I was raised that has so much pull on my thought process. In the south, I am supposed to be finishing school this month, be getting engaged and starting my white-picket-fence life, and to be honest, that sounds terrible to me. I have had a blast in college and took my time deciding what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I have another year left of school, and that's OK. I should probably take summer school classes, but guess what? I'm not going to. I am going to travel and have fun over my last summer as a college student. Will I go to grad school? Yes. Do I know where? Absolutely not, and I probably won't go straight away. I have no idea what in the world I am doing, and I have never been happier.
