Millennial.
“Of our relating to a millennium.” – Mirriam-Webster.
If it hasn’t hit the dictionary, it isn’t a word, right? That means it isn’t real, right? SO that means I am not one, right?
Raise your hand if you cringe when you hear Millennial. Yeah, me too. Well until recently when I reluctantly realized that I. AM. ONE. What? Surely not. I am an 80’s baby. The best kind. Raised on 90’s music and untouched by social media until well into my college years. I can’t belong to the entitled, participation trophy generation that is the “Millennial”. Nope.
After discovering, and confirming that I do in fact fall into the “1981-2001” window for the dreaded Millennial I spent the next few weeks/months reading article after article against and in favor of my generation.
Negative words like “entitled” and “participation trophy” often cast a dark cloud over my head. Am I a terrible person because I got the same “Walk-over” trophy from gymnastics camp 3 years in a row? I only mastered the walk-over, so only fitting they gave me a trophy saying such. If I do feel entitled, all though this is such a BROAD assumption its hard to wrap my head around. How did I get this way? Who told me that a college degree would mean I would land a good job, good benefits and a paycheck with multiple zero’s at the end? Article after article left me more defensive and cynical than before.
That is when I decided. Enough. Embrace it. And focus on the positive. How Millennial of me.
So here we go.
I am a Millennial. And I am proud of it.
On the positive side I found words like, “optimistic” and “unwilling to settle”. Ok great, I can get on board with that. The world is generally a good place and I want to make the most of it! I am young and wild and free and have so much to offer! I know the value of hard work. Post college I gladly took the well paying, insurance toting desk job. Worked my way up the corporate ladder. Had some fun. Paid some dues. Like the generations before me. I loved what I did for a living. But. I wanted more. I wanted something different for myself and my family. And that is ok.
My generation is willing to say we value our time and family and friends more than someone else’s agenda. We will work hard, but you have to compensate us in time, flexibility and money. We will live on less, to actually live. Its confusing to those that came before us. And well that is ok. We don’t understand why you still wear suits to work or need “weekend” cars. I kid. But not really.
We aren’t a a generation of entitled brats. We are just seeing the world differently. Making decisions about our lives that are against social norms. And that is ok. It is what the generations before us have done, and those that some after us will continue.
We are just us. We are Millennials.
