Generation Y

Mysteries were never exciting to me. Action and adventure were exiting but I was never a fan of mystery. I don’t like not knowing. I like having the answers and knowing them ahead of time. I like preparing myself and being rewarded by safely getting through it ( whatever “it” is ).

But here I am in my mid-twenties and I have no answers and no plans. I face my future with nerves, anxiety, and fear. I’m not going through any motions but I don’t feel like I’m heading anywhere in particular either.

Don’t get me wrong I have aspirations. I want to get my doctorate, get married, travel the world, own my own house, and who knows what else. It’s just right now I’m in … Well the in-between. I turn 26 next month and I know that I’ve accomplished a lot in some people’s minds, but not in my own.

I had a ten year plan. I have accomplished 6 of those years on schedule and now I’m on hold. I have student loans, work to few hours to pay them, and feel like my dreams cost me 80k and then didn’t get me where I thought they would. There are thousands of us out there.

They promised us that we could be anything we wanted to when we grew up and we believed them. We got straight A’s, went to church, went to college, worked crummy jobs to work toward our dreams. And then the economy hit.

They called us generation Y (y-not) because we dared to dream and cared to make a difference. We grew up believing that we could be our own bosses, change the world, and cure AIDS. We wanted to be honest politicians, doctors, and small business owners. Our generation were overachievers, individualistic, and independent.

But then we grew up, gained debt, and wondered if we would be the generation who would be forgotten about. We went to college and graduated when the recession hit, only to see that the jobs we were so eager to obtain were being cut back. People with years of experience were looking for the same jobs we were. So we took jobs that paid next to nothing in jobs outside of our field.

After a year of working we went back to school. We graduated again three years later to see that nothing changed. Again we have taken jobs that pay next to nothing and gained more debt. By the time the recession has ended we will have gained little experience in our field and there will be bright and shiny new grads eager to live out their dreams… What will happen to us? Where will we belong? Will our fields have a place for us? …..or will we become generation Y-Me?

NO! We will keep trying. We will keep believing. We will keep hoping. And no matter how difficult things are… WE WILL NOT GIVE UP!