I’m not sure if it’s because we got caught up in our Boomer parents’ wave of meritocracy and bootstraps, or if it’s because we were the last generation where it was actually safe enough to set up a lemonade stand outside, but one thing about a millennial is we’re going to work.
I keep having this thought, which funnily enough has been repeated across my socials, that I’ve been working since I was 15 years old. In fact, I was excited to get started. Lord, I wish I could sit that girl down and let her know what’s to come. We’ve fit what feels like a lifetime of work in already, and there’s still so much more to go.
I hear two conflicting narratives however: one is ‘I’m tired.'‘ and the other is ‘I don’t know how to stop.’
How did we get here?
Was it because we sold 25 cent bags of chips on the playground, or plastic woven keychains to our friends? Is it something we inherited from our parents? Or a trauma response to having seen wars and economic collapse year after year. (I swear if there’s one more unprecedented event…) We’ve not only made work our sole purpose and identity, we’ve also drained the joy out of our hobbies by monetizing them.
I’m looking at your Etsy… you turned hobby crafting into a full-on negocio.
They say two things can be true at once, but with this, I’m not so sure…Millennials, can we be both tired and still moving full force with some intrinsic need to stack paper currency at the same rate we’ve been moving at our whole lives?
My guess is no. It’s unsustainable and frankly, why would we? The carrot keeps moving and the rewards that were promised are nowhere to be found.
I wish I could end this with some tidy lesson that makes it all make sense, but I’m in the thick of it too. I too am trying to untangle my complicated relationship with work, purpose, and life outside the hours of 9 to 5.