We’re millennials. And we’re proud of that.
So many people try to define us millennials. They call us lazy, selfish. Whiny. Entitled. The list of not-so-flattering adjectives goes on and on and on.
I don’t know why I’ve been thinking about how people view my generation. Maybe because I’m about to turn 26, and I’m halfway through my first true decade of adulthood.
Maybe because I’ve been thinking about expectations, expectations I have for myself and expectations society has for me. I’ve been thinking about my career. And goals. And relationships. And all those things that society says we’re supposed to have by 30.
I’ve been thinking about mental health and famous celebrities, who seemingly had it all, taking their own lives.
I’ve been thinking about my friends and the pressure we feel to live our lives with perfect smiles to plaster on Instagram.
I guess I’m a millennial who thinks a lot, about her family, friends and how I can make a difference in the world. I don’t think that’s much different from past generations, though.
I believe my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents sought to make a difference. I think they cared deeply about their communities and voiced their opinions through whatever way was possible.
So what does being a millennial in 2018 mean? Well, it’s complicated. Being a millennial could mean you’re an activist on the front lines fighting against police brutality, immigration laws, sexual assault and a whole host of other issues.
It could mean that you’re financially strapped because of rising college tuition, taking
out a bunch of student loans and paying off credit card debt so that the thought of owning a house seems like a laughable dream.
It could mean that you’re still living with your parents, as I did for a year and a half when I moved back home after graduate school.
It could mean that you’re still single, which is different from our parents’ generations, who got married and had children younger.
It could mean that you’re using one of the endless dating apps to swipe right on someone you actually could marry one day, or boycotting them because you’re just over it.
But why are some people annoyed with my generation? Why am I already bracing myself for the inevitable hate emails I’ll get in my inbox after this piece?
Here’s the thing: Maybe some of us are a little entitled, lazy and selfish. I’ll give the internet trolls that. Maybe our parents held onto us a little too tightly, making us a sensitive bunch that sometimes overreacts.
And maybe we did grow up with our parents whispering big dreams in our ears and teachers who said you can have the stars.
Maybe that did inflate our heads and cause the post-graduation-reality depression that comes when you realize that big dreams don’t just happen overnight.
But maybe some of us still held onto those dreams even after the realities of the real world set in.
I can’t speak for all millennials born from 1981 to 1996. That would be too hard. We make up a rainbow of ethnicities and social classes, and we speak countless languages.
But I can speak for the millennials I know. The friends I grew up with. My college roommates. My grad school classmates. My coworkers. The ones I meet in passing at work events, church and out on the street.
For the most part, we’re striving. We’re working hard to be the best version of ourselves and carve our own identity in a world that screams through multiple platforms who we should be on a daily basis.
We care a lot about others and the countless issues around the world. We’re vulnerable, even when that’s scary.
We’re trying to run our own race, even though it’s hard to not scroll through Instagram and compare our race to somebody else’s.
We might be disconnected and isolated, but we do sometimes pick up the phone and call each other. We check in. We meet up face to face and have birthday parties and go to lunch and brunch and happy hour. We want the best for one another.
And we’re trying our best. Really. We might be idealistic. We might be naïve. We might think our voices do matter — blame growing up with Facebook statuses for that.
But what I love most about us is our tenacity to dream, to expect, to hope.
We won’t just sit down and be quiet. We won’t settle for the status quo. We’ll keep speaking in whatever way that matters until our voices our heard.
We think our dreams can actually come true.
I don’t think my generation can be defined by one word or thought or moment. I think we continue to break boundaries and limits that past generations worked so hard for us not to have.
And I think being a millennial for me means embracing this time, this moment and dreaming as hard as I can and not looking back.