Life’s commencement speech (2013)

Not too long ago I sat down in those seats with my fellow graduates. I was decked out in my robes and mortarboard and a sweet peacock blue tassel indicating a graduate from the school of management from my alma matter. Life should have seemed great. Not only was I graduating, but I had a job lined up. A task that I’m sure most of you have found out to be monumental. However, something didn’t seem right. I couldn’t pinpoint it at the time. I thought maybe it could have been that I was regretting leaving the college lifestyle; a lifestyle that I had grown very comfortable over the past four and a half years (Yes, I took an extra semester but my program was 150 credit hours). It could have been that I would miss my friends. It could have been that the path I had chosen at that point in my life had scared me. It could have been that I wasn’t ready to be an adult and accept responsibility. Maybe it was a little bit of all of the above. I was not proud of myself for what I had accomplished. I felt as if a piece of paper should not be celebrated, because I had not contributed anything to the world. At 22 years old most of us have not contributed to greater society yet.

Over the next year and a half I found out why I was not excited to graduate. It was a little bit of the things I had mentioned above, but the main reason was simple. I was not comfortable with myself. Right now you might be thinking that you know who you are, and you are confident in what you want to do in your life. However, I can promise you that there is something your missing as a 22 year old; life experience. There is a reason that you can’t run for president until you’re 35. It is this life experience factor. Most of you have been in school for your entire life, and at this moment a majority of you will never return. But guess what… most of you don’t know anything about life. If you are confident in your path then chase it. Work as hard as you can to accomplish what it is you want from life, but keep in mind the what if. What if something goes wrong? Do you have a backup plan?

You might find yourself in my shoes. Not sure if the path you are on is right in the first place. I worked for two months, and I knew that I had screwed up. Two months! That’s all it took me to realize it. Now I don’t regret my decisions. At 18, it sounded pretty good and I went with it. But if you think you know life now, think back to when you were 18. Did that beautiful/handsome person know anywhere near to what you know now? I’m going to assume not. I unfortunately did not have a backup plan. So there I was. My narrow path had reached an open field, and I had no GPS or map or compass. I was surrounded by nothing, and my life became miserable. I had no clue how to escape. I was hopeless.

Something amazing happened as time went on. I started to explore. That open field was no longer a problem; it was endless opportunities. For the first time in my life, I was able to make a conscious effort to find myself. A new path emerged, and I liked it. I wasn’t afraid to start on it, as going back to the path I was on before the open field wasn’t an option in my eyes. I started to look at life differently. I realized that happiness could not be found from the people around me. Happiness was a mentality that I could choose. I would have to make my own happiness. As 2013 rolled around, I decided that it would be the best year in my life. So far in 2013, I have come across many setbacks. More than I have typically had at one time. An injury and the end of a long term relationship seemed to be slowing down the best year of my life, but they weren’t. In a few months, I had gained life experience that I had never had before. I had gained wisdom. Wisdom that I can now share with you.

Before I finish, I would like to summarize in a way that hopefully will inspire each of you as you continue your journey.

Be proud of yourself today. Although you haven’t changed the world yet, no one expects you to at the age of 22. Look back and remember what hard work feels like and apply it as you move forward in life.

Find a way to be comfortable with yourself. It might not be easy, but finding yourself and liking who you are will be evident around others. If you do not feel comfortable with yourself, well then maybe you need to consider making some changes to find what makes you comfortable.

If you reach an open field in your life, do not freak out! It might be easy to seem lost, but realize you have the ability to go in any direction you want; a field of endless opportunities. Some of the most exciting opportunities you may have ruled out in the past are now sitting right in front of you.

Don’t be afraid to start a new path. It doesn’t mean you made mistakes in the past, it only means the path you were on led you here. It is ok to make mistakes when your 22 years old. No one expects you to be perfect.

Make your own happiness. Don’t wait for it to come to you, because it may never come. Make a conscious effort to make each day the best day of your life and you will find it.

Setbacks and failures make you wiser. Don’t dwell on them, but make a conscious effort to understand what went wrong and how you can improve yourself moving forward, as a newer and wiser individual.

Congratulations class of 2013. May you stay positive and change the world for the better.

Overly Neurotic with a fear of Life

What’s wrong with today’s society
Girls got their wedding planned by the time their 16
We all like to sit down in front of the T.V.
And idolize kids knocked up in their teens

But what we don’t realize, is what we don’t see
Life’s not free when your raising babies
Parents with grand kids before seeing degrees
Diapers more important than college money
and were not  all famous from pregnancy.

Kids growing up too fast
Thinking ’bout life, thinking ’bout cash
Making the decision to give up youth is rash
‘Cause once you grow up, there’s no going back.

Welcome to the world of technology
Quick answers, quick friends, quick enemies
Facebook made stalking legal for everybody
and drama between friends increases exponentially

No wonder new generations are the “Me” and the “I”
No wonder psych problems are at an all time high
I-pads, I-phones, I cannot hide
Connected to the world with no friends in sight
Overly neurotic with a fear of life.

Kids growing up too fast
Thinking ’bout life, thinking ’bout cash
Making the decision to give up youth is rash
‘Cause once you grow up, there’s no going back.

Stress and Gen-Y

Arianna Huffington recently released an article about Millennials being the most stressed generation. If you haven’t read it click here.

This article made a lot of excellent points on why GEN-Y’s are stressed, listing student debt and the workforce as some of the main reasons.

One thing I have a problem doing is reading the comments below articles, and this does nothing but infuriate me. It was no different for this article. Comments consisted of a bunch of Baby-Boomers putting the blame on Millenials for being this way. Now I usually take blame for something that I did wrong, but the fact is I did nothing wrong. To have a generation that had everything handed to them in the prime years of the United States economy try to put me down even further shows a clear sight of ageism in the United States that isn’t being addressed whatsoever. Ageism is typically thought of as discriminating against older people, but as the general population ages, and a majority of individuals in the work force are between the ages of 40-60, there is a clear discrimination of young people entering the workforce. Baby-boomers will deny it. The same way they can deny that racism doesn’t exist when whites have been “overprivleged” for years. The same way they deny sexism when “women” can’t even make near the salary of a man in the workforce. I don’t think that the intensity of this is as bad as other “-ism’s”, but I do feel like there is  some discrimination going on here. The same way they discriminate against all minorities; they are now discriminating against their own children.

Now I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but some of the comments related to the article are so self-centered and have no regard to even try to think about what GEN-Y is going through.

Here’s a few examples:

“Stress is our internal reaction to these outside stimuli. Therefore, we all create our own stress by the reaction we choose. That’s why age and perspective make older generations progressively less stressed.”

Trying to relate to us, as if you have had to go through the same thing we’re going through. Look at how booming the US economy was when you started to work.

“Put down the video games and Red Bull, pick-up a Help Wanted section. If you’re not less stressed, at least your parents will be.”

Yes, because we are young, all of us must be irresponsible. None of us are looking for jobs. We just want a “free ride”.

My favorite is the multiple people who blame the president for us being stressed, because he hasn’t added more jobs.

The truth is we know that the job market is uneasy. We have been told for the past 6 years it will be tough to find a job, so we have come to learn to live with it. While it does cause some stress it is not the main reason.

The reason for stress is the mentality that it is virtually impossible for us to “fit-in” at work. We are overworked and underpaid. We try so hard to prove that we can make it, and that we are just as qualified as everyone else, but we are young, so we can’t be smart. We are forced to conform to the idea of working under the terms of the company we work for, because we can’t quit as finding another job could be next to impossible. The corporations win again, as there are thousands of people waiting to fill our job.

When I read articles like this, I feel empowered to voice my opinion. There will be no changes until other generations will allow changes to be made. This cannot be done by only our generation. We need help from the older generations, which it doesn’t seem like we will be getting anytime soon.

I hope GEN-Y fights for these changes. There are many things that need to be changed in society today. It is ridiculous that the Baby Boomers want us to be like them and act like them, because this is the only way to behave in the world. I refuse to conform to this idea that society is screwed up and we have to live with it like GEN-X. Let’s make a difference! Let’s improve the world for the better. We are the generation of change, so lets make change happen.

 

 

 

 

A Plea from Generation Y

2039 is a year of bliss, a year of growth, and a year where the past could be forgotten. Yet here I am with the past. We remember the past 25 years. Economic collapse, followed by a revolution of the people. We suffered and we overcame, but not without loss. My friends fought for everything. We were the generation of change. We were open to ideas that would progress the world to the future. Yet we remembered the hard work of our grandparents. Our parents didn’t understand. They couldn’t stop telling us how they gave us everything in a time when everything could be given. It is easy for them to say.

I think back to being a kid, and they were right. They did give us everything. They gave us anything we would ask for. Food led us to gluttony. Possessions led us to envy. Entertainment led us to lust and sloth and wrath. Society had already accepted pride and greed. They were all there; all seven deadly sins.

The early 20’s were the worst. Our parents were retiring, and we thought things would get easier for us. Employers didn’t want us. We didn’t learn the importance of technology at birth like out younger brothers and sisters. We helped society make that change, and agreed it was important in education. I guess you could say it was our fault, but the cards we were given didn’t give us much choice. We were martyrs. More focused on making the world a better place than preparing for the new world.

The 30’s weren’t much better. One by one our parents started to pass away. They left us with an unpaid mortgage on a house, and nothing else. Their life insurance money was gone. The had to cash it in for growing medical costs. They never expected to live this long, and neither did the banks and investors. None of them had saved enough money to live. They were relying on Social Security and Medicare, but those were just policies of the past by then.

We were skipped; The smallest generation and the forgotten. The hard workers, the education advocates, the change makers; it didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was technology. We knew it was coming to this. Back when we were young universities weren’t prepared. Our technology skills were out of date, and only a few of us could afford to keep up with the new trends.

Our qualifications don’t matter anymore. Everything we learned is done by computers now. I write this to ask our brothers for help. Please try to understand.  Try to look past our large depression and mental problems, because our situation was never great. We helped you get where you are today. We are not looking for pity, just respect. Give us something to live for. Help us become better people.

Sincerely,

Gen-Y