FEAR.
How much of our lives do we feel it? How many opportunities or experiences lie on the other side of a great valley of fear?
I feel it as a Millennial. Hell, everyone feels it. But Fear for a Millennial is slightly different than the fear of past generations. For many Millennials, the fear feeds off of too many opportunities, too much indecision, too many closed doors, too much competition for jobs, too much social comparison, too much indecision, too much technology, too much confusion, too much financial insecurity, too little meaning….
Add to all of these fears climate change, messy political systems, intrastate wars, a recovering economy, a truckload of new technology and 24/7 lifestyles and you end up with a fear Armageddon.
The pressure of these fears creates a pervasive feeling of powerlessness. This powerlessness leads to frustration.
And from this frustration is borne fury and anger. Anger at our feeling of powerlessness. Anger at trying to shoehorn ourselves into certain boxes that make up our societal system. Anger at not being able to change the system. Anger at our underpaid jobs. Anger at not even getting the underpaid jobs. Anger at our student loans. Anger at the pace of climate change and the lack of action. Anger at ourselves for not doing more, knowing more, being more.
Geez, you’re thinking, this is bleak. Now what?
I believe the solution lies in some other ‘F’ words. Faith. Fellowship. Focus. Fun.
We keep trying. We believe that we can find meaning and we can be agents of change. We have faith.
We are not alone. We have friends and family. We have a community. We take comfort in fellowship.
We are passionate about what we believe in. We follow our causes. We focus on what matters.
And last but not least, we must allow ourselves to have fun. How many of us make fun a priority? Let’s stop being so serious, just for a moment, and have some unabashed fun!
So f*ck fear. I want to be free. Do you?
