I, like seemingly so many of my peers, am currently employed at a level below what my education and experiences have qualified me for. I am thankful to have a job, at all. I do have friends who can't get one. I just feel unfulfilled. I realize that it is a rarity to get the job you want, just a couple of years out of college, but that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I've been looking, and making things happen. Interviews, second interviews, tests, references, getting so close, but not reaching the next level, yet. With the support of my friends and family, I've been able to keep my head up, and keep pushing. But, I know that there are thousands of others, just like me, and I'm wondering what the situation is doing to them, to us, and a group. This "Millenial" generation is participating in the lowest level of new home formation (moving out of mom and dad's, into your own place), since the 1950s, which says a lot of different things, at once.
These are all ideas, and stories all of you have read about, in the newspaper, and heard from your own friends, or gone through, yourselves. What I'm wondering is what will be the lasting effect? I'm thinking one of two things. Either we'll let this seep into or permanent mindset, and continue feeling like we can't live up to the achievements and expectations set by those generations who have come before us, never feeling like we've reached our potential. The other result might be that we are still afraid of the greatness we may achieve, and this odd waiting period will only serve to make us stronger. Giving us a sense of perseverance that will continue to serve us throughout our lives. Toughening us up. A last bit if harsh winter, before the Spring of our lives gives us the chance to thrive grow, and create for ourselves, and those to follow. Shaping the world in our own image.
I'm thinking the latter version will prove to be the eventual course for myself, and most of my peers, and we'll get our time to show what we are made of. But, of course, it's possible that I'm going through the same thing that countless generations before me have felt and experienced, and everything will turn out just fine.
Spreading Positivity,
Rashan A. Colbert
[email protected]
Alexandria, VA