If you go back in time about a century and a half ago, you use to be able to rely on the sage advice of your parents and your grandparents, their live experiences were very similar to yours and they could help lead you though your life. They could give you hope when things looked hopeless and understand when things were both good and bad.
Now though it seems that the generational gap is just so large that it’s hard to find the similarities in anything anymore. Our grandparents experiences though amazing don’t always find a place or meaning in our life’s today. We are so connected yet so distant from each other that we really don’t know how to interact, how to learn from the past and how to treasure what came before us.
I am considered a millennial. I’m at the very top of that bracket and find that I really fit into both the millennial generation and generation x. I remember a world without computers, a world where we did go out and play while our parents stayed inside and didn’t really look out the window much. That of course started to change as I grew into a teen and then I had to watch the younger kids like a hawk.
I’m in an interesting position. I have a lot more in common with younger people in my generation the I do people close to my age or older. I am not married, I don’t have kids, yet I’m in debt and still at 32 trying to figure out my life after some major setbacks and disappointments. I believe that the generation gap is caused by the previous generations wanting a scapegoat, but also not understanding the Millennial generation. We are adapters, we have had to be, there is not such thing as job security, most of use came from broken or never together homes and we just don’t believe that anything is forever.
We job jump according to the baby boomer generation, but to us it’s just trying to learn more and get ahead in a corporate world that doesn’t care at all about it’s workers, but their profits and shareholders. No longer can we expect to work for a company and move up, yes it happens, but that’s the exception, not the norm. We know this and we have found a way to adapt and be able to get where we need to go, we just have to take a different path then those before us.
For a long time I didn’t feel like I belonged in my generation, but now I find myself at home here and I’m looking forward to the bright future all of us Millennials will have.
What generation do you belong to? Do you feel like you belong there?
Great article! Its tough for some of us that are sort of in that “in between” area, because there is such a stereotype for GenX and Millennials that is so vastly different, its hard to really see yourself as either. 🙂 Will be so interesting to see what the next generation is known for as technology and media only become more immersed in our everyday life and culture.
I’m not going to say that life has gotten harder for us because life in general is hard. But with all of the advances that have occurred since our parents and grandparents grew up, it definitely makes it harder to relate to them. We will continue to adapt to the changing world, where older generations may not accept it as much, but that’s what we have to do to thrive these days.
I’m in my mid 30s, but I don’t feel like I fit in with my generation all that well. I have been married for ages, lots of kids, lots of responsibilities that people my age don’t necessarily have. I relate more with older people than younger because of this.