Not Well Known but Common Struggles of Millennials and Advice from My Experience

Everyone has different expectations and thoughts regarding the different generations. 

The most common generations are the Silent Generation (age 70-90), The Baby Boomers (age 51-69), Generation X (36-50), and the Millennials (age 21-35). Each generation has its own distinct characteristics based off of experiences and events during the era they were living in.

My grandparents were from the Silent Generation and grew up during segregation and the civil rights movement. 

As a Millennial, I grew up in an era where we are embracing so much cultural diversity and advance technology; despite the adversity that follows. Another thing about generations is that each group had to overcome their own struggles in their time.

People continue to age throughout other generation time periods. However, this does not play a huge significance in their lives; only the era that people are born and raised in impact their lives.

Nonetheless, due to technology, environmental changes, changing social norms, and even inflation, each generation had to experience problems as a whole because of these factors. 

So after taking all these factors into consideration, which generation had it worse and which had it the best? 

To answer your question, there is no direct answer.

However, people of different generations have their own thoughts and opinions regarding which generation has been through the most struggles and which generation had it pretty easy.

It is safe to say that the generation that we’ve had the most respect for was the Silent Generation. This generation consists of a lot of veterans who laid their lives down to fight in War II as well as the Vietnam war. Unfortunately not every generation is appreciated this way. Specifically us Millennials.

Many millennials have a lot of confidence and reach for the stars regardless of what our older peers believe and think of them. Our generation strongly many diverse groups such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBT community, pro-life and pro-choice groups, as well as many organizations that protect the rights of animals and wildlife such as PETA. 

Despite the positive intentions that we have, we are accused of violating morals and values more than any other generation before us.

We strongly support freedom and believe that everyone should believe in what they want, especially if it doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s life. Many of our beliefs contradict laws as well as orthodox practices.

This is why we are viewed negatively sometimes. A lot of people whether it’s our grandparents, parents, teachers, and etc. can find our way of thinking impractical or illogical.

We are also viewed as entitled, lazy, selfish, and even arrogant. 

I can’t tell you how many times my parents were upset with some of the sports teams that we played on because of the participation trophies everyone got. My parents grew up in a time where you earned everything and people rarely cut you some slack. Neither one of them got a participation trophy as well. Their pride probably wouldn’t allow them to accept one either.

Do any of these accusations of who we are, are necessarily true? 

I can strongly disagree.

To be honest I do envy the more simple times. 

I pray for days where marriage is restored and strongly appreciated again. The institution of marriage was protected. However, nowadays it’s hard to find your future spouse because of all the technology and influences on social media.

Today you can download an app and have a date at the control of your fingertips. There’s also this strong feeling regarding marriage. Many may believe the institution of marriage can be used to strip women of their rights to be independent. As for a lot, they may feel tied down by something that they may not believe in their parents or grandparents did.

Nowadays relationships aren’t valued as much as they use to be. Titles such as “boyfriend/girlfriend” or “husband/wife” are starting to be used less in our generation.

So even though this generation may have take or any kind of liberation to a whole new level, we face just as many complications and struggles like any other generation.

Here are several struggles that millennials face that are overlooked or unknown to a lot of people.

One struggle, that us millennial‘s face, is the struggles in the job market. 

I recently college almost a year ago, and I didn’t get the job I exactly wanted. I received a bachelor's degree in a very common area of study known as Organizational Leadership.

According to statistics, millennials are the largest group of people that are the most educated.

Unfortunately, with that being said, there are more educated workers than there are positions available. I couldn’t tell you how frustrating it was for me to have to work several of jobs that I was overqualified for after four years of the dedicating myself to being a student-athlete. Working a 9-5 job, that pays $10 an hour at the most, wasn’t what I had in mind.

I had to move back home in order to save up a lot of money to pay for bills, outside of room and board. I can only imagine how more frustrating it must be for the millions of students who didn’t receive scholarships and are dealing with student loan debt.

Another issue millennials face is that we struggle with anxiety and depression more than any other generation.

After constantly dealing with reminders of how we are viewed negatively by other generations; and after dealing with financial hardships, it’s understandable as to why we deal with these psychological setbacks. there were times where I’ve been scared to be a failure.

It doesn’t make it any easier when you hop on social media and watch your peers posts pictures of their “successful” lives. As said before we are constantly called “entitled”. Overall, we work very hard trying to have the “perfect” lives like our parents, grandparents, or like anyone else we look up to.

I try to tell my parents, we are trying to grow and evolve in a time period that they haven’t really experienced before. Almost everyone has a smartphone, chivalry is dying but is trying to make a comeback, and gas prices are starting to look like the GPAs that we desire and have to lose sleep for. Of nothing comes easy but it’s hard to be held to expectations that the past generations never had.

However, despite living in a complicated era, we still thrive. Even though I had to work in a few elderly homes and make ends meet by delivering food, my degree still paid off. It’s a growing experience. There are many more millennial struggles I’ve faced this past year but it made me stronger and wiser. I’ve also gained a sense of fulfillment.

So if you’re a millennial who is having trouble finding your soulmate, or if you don’t know how to kickstart your career, there’s still time. Our ancestors may not know exactly what we’ve been through but they had to overcome problems that were overwhelming to them as well.

My advice would be to stay clear of any influences or people who take from you more than they give. It could be money, attention, and advice. 

Have you ever felt that you’ve constantly a friend, or someone close, positive advice?

But when you’re down they’re nowhere to be found?

Remember that you have to take care of yourself before anything else.

Another important thing is to trust your instincts. Nothing is wrong with hearing outside opinions but sometimes if you constantly ask for validation from others you give them the power to dictate what you should do with your life. Besides everyone is figuring out their own lives too.

Especially positive ones. Have you ever heard “birds of a feather flock together”? You pretty much reflect what you constantly surround yourself with. Whether it’s people, movies, or maybe even the pages you follow on social media, you can be influenced based on how much they’re around you. Sometimes it happens without you realizing it.

I’ve also learned that perseverance is so important. The whole point of dealing with these obstacles is to prepare us for a great future.