I work with a lot of people who are fresh out of college or in their mid-twenties. Everyone here is over-educated and under paid. I’ve realized from a lot of our conversations that they are going through a mourning that I went through myself a few years ago. It’s hard to articulate but I think at that age you realize “Oh I have to do this, every day. Until I retire. Which will probably not happen. I have to do this every day until I die. If I’m lucky I’ll get 2 weeks off in a year, but one of those is kind of wasted on Christmas.”
I think a lot of us are mourning a lot of things. The heat death of the planet. The death of the “American dream.” We get sold this narrative that if you work hard and go to college, you’ll get out and get a good job. No, you’ll get a career that you stick with lifelong and get rewarded for. Then you can buy a house. Get married. Have a baby. But that’s not true. Not any more. Most of us won’t buy homes. Many of us aren’t getting married. Many of us aren’t having children (because of that whole slipping into fascism and planet dying thing?). So our definitions of success are shifting.
I don’t think home ownership HAS to be the way to become an adult. The way to define a successful life. But at this point I’m not sure I can point to anything that defines a good life.
Do you think that you’ve gone through similar mourning? No more summer breaks. Nothing to look forward to? Any genuine solutions?