The Promised Land

Welcome to Career Advise, the newsletter providing career advice, how-tos, and life musings through an optimistic and intriguing lens.

Today’s Pillar: Navigate the Gray

Many believe their generation was cheated. They were promised an outstanding life with prosperity via birthright, if born in a prosperous nation, or as long as they followed the prescribed “checklist” for success, it was the Golden Ticket.

As with any age, there are going to be problems that are worse than previous generations faced and things that are better for us than for previous generations. I won’t list the issues we face today; there are plenty out there who do, and I’d like my words to be evergreen when old problems fade and new ones inevitably arise. But for instance, I’ll take yesterday’s prices and today’s medical care.

I will not make this article a “blame Millennials for their problems” post, which is simply demeaning and wrong, and I don’t want this to be an “Oh you poor Millennial” post and just dwell in nihilism. These tired tropes solve nothing, and I am exhausted of people pointing fingers. I’d like to take a third-way approach to this much-needed discussion. Yes, there are things we have inherited that were beyond our control that have not made our lives easier, and if we want to have a better future, they are now our problems to solve.

We mustn’t fall into the trap of accepting the zeitgeist as the perpetual status quo. We are not damned. We have much more power than we think to make progress. Narratives, though perhaps true, can keep us down. Might I suggest that we stop listening to the doomsday pundits whose career it is to cause panic and stress? Throw them off. Look at the situation and understand the problems, but don’t wallow in them. We can try new solutions; we can fix things that are broken. It may not be easy, but it will be worth it. We may need to challenge some of the formulas we were given; perhaps we need to think more critically about how we find success and ensure a better future for ourselves and future generations.

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