This September, I will be turning 22-years-old. About 50 years ago, women my age were already married with kids while most men had been in the army or were just finishing up college and were about to begin a stable job to care for their families.
Expectations for men and women in their 20s are vastly different than the expectations that are put on us today, and that has taken a toll on us millennials.
Most people assume that millennials are enriched with newfound technology and an "easy" lifestyle. Some may think that we are spoiled because of the resourceful tools that we have today, however, this is far from the truth. In fact, we are beyond stressed and tired from the constant pressure that is put on us at our age.
We are turning into the "perfectionist" generation.
Your 20's are meant to be a time of fun, growth and making mistakes. It is a time to learn about yourself in order to become prepared for the real world. Our generation, however, has been programmed to be fearful of making mistakes because of the societal pressure and expectations that are put upon us.
Because of the day in age we live in, we are gifted with numerous resources and opportunities that people simply did not have 50, 40, or even 30 years ago. We are expected to graduate high school, go off to college, go to graduate school, or get our dream job and make something of ourselves. Then, after all of our success, we are expected to settle down and have kids all before we are 30-years-old.
There is so much pressure to do the right thing and be successful.
Our professors, parents, grandparents and even bosses expect so much of us because they believe we are capable of so much greatness. Because of this, we want to be perfect in everything we do in order to prove ourselves. This has led to great distress and less time for millennials to be able to enjoy their twenties. We are so focused on being perfect and living up to society's expectations, that we don't make time to take care of ourselves.
By the time we live up to the expectations of others and wasted our life away being stressed, it will be too late. We will look back and regret the times we forgot to slow down and enjoy. It is imperative that we learn to live life from the inside out. Once we are truly happy on the inside, everything in our lives will fall into place.
This is something that we must learn in young adulthood in order to be truly happy for the rest of our lives. It shouldn't matter if we don't get our college degree in a certain matter of time, or if we go to graduate school, or even if we get married and have children. We must ignore the societal pressure that is put on us and live our lives at our pace.
When we do this, we will be able to make time not only for ourselves but also for our future.
