Millennials Have A New Reason For Their Unhappiness & Lack Of Drive
Wait until the Boomers hear this one.
Over on Millennials Reddit, the 28-to-43 year olds who have found all sorts of reasons to avoid work (Bare Minimum Mondays, Quiet Quitting), are at it again with a claim that being in "gifted" classes during school has led to burnout.
Reddit user Cultural_Ad9508, a 34-year-old female with a civil engineering degree who works as an operations manager for a geotechnical engineering company, says she's fed up with the work world, and she's blaming her problems on the rat race associated with gifted programs in school.
"Now I'm looking at the other "gifted" kids I knew from high school and college. They've largely...burned out," a Reddit Millennial claims. /<i><strong> </strong></i>via Getty Images
- Cultural_Ad9508 writes:
Here I am, 34 and exhausted, dreading going to work every day. I have a high-stress job, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that its killing me. My health is declining, I am anxious all the time, and I have zero passion for what I do. I dread work and fantasize about retiring. I obsess about saving money because I'm obsessed with the thought of not having to work.
I was one of those "gifted" kids, and was always expected to be a high-functioning adult. My parents completely bought into this and demanded that I be a little machine. I wasn't allowed to be a kid, but rather an adult in a child's body.
Now I'm looking at the other "gifted" kids I knew from high school and college. They've largely...burned out. Some more than others. It just seems like so many of them failed to thrive. Some have normal jobs, but none are curing cancer in the way they were expected to.
The ones that are doing really well are the kids that were allowed to be average or above average. They were allowed to enjoy school and be kids. Perfection wasn't expected. They also seem to be the ones who are now having kids themselves.
Am I the only one who has noticed this? Is there a common thread?
I think I've entered into a mid-life crisis early.
Getty Images
Numeorus Reddit Millennials jumped on the theme that ‘gifted’ classes burned them out
A user going by ‘AlienStrippers’ jumps on the burnout and wasted potential train. "I turned to drugs to cope with the failure of living up to the expectations I had of myself and my family, its been sad. Now just feels like wasted potential and stuck in a what-if mind set," Alien Strippers writes.
The comments rolled in from there:
- "Feeling the "what-if" mindset in so many ways and I'm only 30."
- "A lot of us have ADHD."
- "Turns out that I wasn’t exactly "gifted," just had a severe untreated anxiety disorder and couldn’t emotionally handle failing to meet others’ expectations. Who’d have guessed. Had an absolute breakdown during law school because I hated my life and resented the constant pressure to succeed."
- "I didn’t even graduate college. I had no direction. No idea what I wanted to be. Ended up doing nothing. Feels bad."
- "Former straight-A student here. Now a 40 year old, late ADHD diagnosed, unemployed, crash out stoner woman. I had a feeling this would happen."
Suck it up, Millennials! Quit your whining
It's worth noting that Millennials say an annual income of $525,000 is needed to be happy. Yes, $525k per year.
According to a Gallup World Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world.
As for the United States, Gen Z and Millennials are some of the most unhappy people on the planet from the industrialized world. According to Fast Company, the Gallup report shows "that younger people’s unhappiness could be due to an epidemic of loneliness."
Let's stop and think about this for a minute.
Is it possible that social media, which Millennials have known their entire lives, has made them miserable humans? Is it possible that watching people on Instagram act like they don't have jobs has made Millennials miserable? Is it possible watching people jerk around on TikTok has led to misery?
A Google Search shows us that this is not just a theory, but it's being talked about in great numbers.
According to DePaul University researchers, "Self comparison behavior and seeking approval were seen among individuals who already suffer from anxiety because, ‘Individuals with anxiety may engage in excessive reassurance seeking to validate their self-worth or reduce intolerable feelings of uncertainty/worry through posting on social media sites more frequently to obtain comments and ’likes.'"
Millennials also blame their unhappiness on the lack of colors on chain stores that they grew up loving
There are Millennials who are tired of all the complaining from the ‘gifted’ Millennials who constantly find new reasons to avoid work
"You just hate your job. That's nothing special or unique to the gifted kids," WillS--tpostForFood fired back at the original poster. "The reason gifted kids feel like they get it worse is because you got gassed up during grade school and then had further to fall when you got into the world where people generally don't give a shit about your academics anymore."
What's the solution?
- Delete all social media apps
- Stop watching the news
- Tell people you don't give a shit who is the President until you can get your own life in order
- Stop blaming ‘gifted’ classes for your pain and suffering; take some responsibility for your own failures
- Go find a job that makes you happy; work for less, make your ass happy; reduce your financial aspirations so they're in-line with your salary; remember that being a river guide isn't going to lead to a 4 bed/3.5 bath house with a $75k SUV in the garage
- Stop getting on Reddit to bitch about how unfair life can be; do something about it
Am I wrong? Yell at me. Let me have it.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com