Before I go any further let me just say that much of our sense of entitlement is not entirely our fault. Our parents and grandparents worked hard to be able to give us everything that we have. They followed the American Dream so that we could have things they never could and so that we would have ample opportunities to pursue our careers. Unfortunately, the "American dream" has started to blow up in our face, but we are the Special Snowflakes so we shouldn't have to deal with this, right? Mommy and Daddy told you in high school and college that your "job" was just to get good grades, right? Your Mommy probably has all of your You're a Winner Because You Participated trophies above the mantel and you know she saved all of your A's for effort. Therefore, you don't really know how to deal with the unforeseen complications of what it really means to be an adult. While our parents worked hard to provide a good life for us, in many ways it was easier for them than it is for us. Things were much more simple. For one thing, when they were getting started in life they didn't have cell phone bills. HAHA! On top of that it actually meant something to have a college degree. If you went to University you were fairly well set up to find a good full-time job with benefits. This is no longer the case. We all know this.
So, here is my point: life is still hard, if not harder than it was for our parents, but because we grew up so entitled we do not understand the work it takes to continue to have what we have always had. We thought it would be as easy as doing our home work after school every evening. The homework we got praise for doing even though it was required and everyone else had to do it too. Good job! Go you!
How to spot the entitled millennial behavior:
1) You're tired of adulting.
2) You just want to be a mermaid.
3) You need 12 shots of espresso before you can speak to anyone.
4) You prefer to "netflix n chill" rather than be forced to socialize.
5) You understand that having to wake up before noon is a terrible injustice.
6) You're way more intelligent and competent than your boss.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? While the above examples may not describe you, personally, you know that is describes a large percentage of your Facebook friends. If they aren't posting their smart-ass humor on their wall you can certainly find it all over their Pinterest account. For millennials, it seems to be funny to be a lazy jerk who simply wants to escape any or all adult responsibilities. Millennials are the only ones who get to "check out" of the real world to go rest and find out who they really are. A millennial can totally walk away from from all responsibility and claim it is for their mental health and no one bats an eye. That it what I call entitled. Think about it. Our grandparents did not get to mentally check-out of WWII. Those who fought in Vietnam did not get to come home and stop "adulting." Many people who struggle from abuse or depression still have to keep their jobs and pay their bills even though it would be really nice to just STOP and go take a yoga class or backpack around the country for some peace and self-exploration. Millennials gripe and complain about everything without stopping to think, "hey, maybe if I dial back on the Starbucks spending or video games, I could use that time and money to create better opportunities for myself."
Unfortunately, I am guilty of having millennial entitlement just like everyone else, but I am learning that this attitude is not that of someone with goals such as mine, and I must change it. While I really hate the word, "adulting" I have to admit that sometimes I sit back and think, "wow, this really is harder than I thought it would be." I am not entirely sure what I expected, but I didn't expect it to be like this.
Taking a step back, lets talk about our college degrees. We are the first generation where getting a college degree is the next expected step for us. For our parents, and especially our grandparents, getting a college degree was a huge deal! Unlike many of my friends, both of my parents have degrees and got good jobs immediately after graduation. Somehow, I expected the same thing to happen to me. However, times have changed. Essentially everyone goes to college now. So, now we are faced with new problems that our parents did not face such as, "my degree is in Theatre and really doesn't count for much." Yeah, that one is all me. I chose my field of study because I loved it and I had this dumb idea where I thought if I did what I loved everything would eventually work itself out. I am not saying you shouldn't do what you love, but my millennial entitlement caused me to forget that sometimes you still have to do things you don't like in order to be successful... or you know, just pay the bills! I do not think my degree is completely useless and I certainly learned a lot of valuable information through my courses, but I am not exactly set up for the path I now wish to take. Not on paper, anyway. To be honest, I no longer have a great love for theatre. I will always love it to a certain extent, but not enough to pursue a career and unfortunately, I discovered these feelings a little too late. I am not the only one. Even those who don't feel regret towards their degree of choice find that their careers are not fulfilling, if they've even landed a job in their field to begin with. But because of our millennial entitlement we whine about it instead of continuing to work towards our goals.
Of course, if your goals are entirely centered around your career then that could possibly be part of the problem. There is a balance between our careers and the rest of our lives and I find that us millennials have a hard time maintaining that balance. It's all or nothing, and because of our entitlement a lot us opt for the free-spirited lifestyle of never settling down, never saving money, and forgetting that we are getting older. It takes a lot of money to survive and it takes even more to live as comfortably as you always thought you would, even if your idea of living comfortably simply meant owning a home, staying debt free, and having a young 'un or two. Times have changed, and we must change with the times.
We line up for the new iPhone every year and mark our calendars for PSL season. We spend hours on social media blabbing about everything from bad traffic and our tasty lunch to hollywood couple drama and Donald Trump's orange skin. We spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on gym memberships, new iPads and laptops, FitBits (because we are so lazy we need our watch to remind us how little we get off our butt and move), and every other new trinket that comes around the corner. This is why "adulting" is so hard and you "just want to be a mermaid." Okay, #shelltits (thanks for that one, Iliza Schlesinger). Maybe if you spent a fraction of the time that you spend whining on actually being an adult it might not feel so miserable.
I have to admit that I am guilty of being the girl that runs to Starbucks for a PSL the minute a dead leaf hits the ground, and I am, in fact, typing this on my beloved MacBook Air with my iPhone 6 sitting next to me. All while wearing my cute plum colored FitBit HR. I am guilty. I am not pointing fingers without realizing that I am in the same boat as the rest of you. So, what are you going to do? In order to get your college degree you took out loans and now you're swimming in debt and you've barely gotten started in life. Its not fair, no, but its how things are. Thanks, Baby Boomers.
Let me break it down a little more. In the early 1900s women fought hard for the right to vote. It was kind of a big deal. In 1964 we had the Civil Right Act which prohibited the segregation of black and white people in schools. These were huge changes for the American people but do you think they were easy? I think not. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go when it comes to racism, equality, etc. However, if we sit back and whine about how hard it is to be an adult then we have nowhere to go except backwards. Not to be too dark but the Baby Boomers will start dying off before too long and that leaves us in charge. How are you going to feel about being an adult then? Look at it this way, America is the country of entrepreneurs. The go-getters, the business builders, the fighters. We have come a long way from the founding of the country. We demolished slavery (at least, legally), women can own land and vote, and gay marriage is finally legally. Regardless of your personal views on any of these issues we fought to make changes that were to benefit the people of our country and it doesn't stop now. There is still much work to be done. For you, your children, and your children's children. Can you imagine what it would be like if our parents said, "I'm tired of adulting" and just sat back and did nothing?
I believe that our sense of entitlement has blinded us from realizing how hard we have to work to continue to grow and flourish.
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