The Millennials’ Pursuit for the Meaning of Life.

In his book Against common sense: Teaching and learning toward social justice, Kumashiro talks about crisis as a state of anxiety and confusion which urges us to take action. He was talking about education but the same can be implied to life in general.

Once upon a time, life seemed to be much simpler. People went to school, got a job, married young and led simple lives, finding their purpose in life in raising children. This is not the case with us Millennials. https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/08/the-common-reason-for-the-millennial-quarter-life-crisis/ We are more adventurous, impetuous and, unlike generations before us, we tend to seek confirmation within ourselves. Meaning, we no longer find purpose solely in the act of getting married, giving birth or finding a well-paid job. We know we want more but the problem is—many of us don’t know what we exactly want. When I was finishing high school and had to choose a college, I had no idea what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. There were a few things I was really good at, but that only made it harder for me to make a decision. Of course, I ended up choosing wrong and spent a couple of years studying something that I knew in my heart was never going to make me happy. Afterward, I changed my major and studied something different. The irony is, now that I am writing my Master’s thesis, I am, again, aware that this is something I can’t imagine doing for the rest of my life. Some of you who are reading this may think  I am just an indecisive girl who should really get a grip and figure out her life. Others may read this and feel relieved to know they are not the only one feeling lost.

For the longest time, I blamed myself and figured there was something wrong with me. Maybe it was just my Libra nature that makes it hard for me to make decisions. http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/10/what-it-means-to-love-a-libra/But, then I started talking about these issues with other Millennials and realized I was not the only one. Just the other day I was talking to my friend and she said how she was going through a crisis and nothing in life seems to make sense to her. Many members of our generation feel the same way. Our continuous search for the meaning of life, more than often, leads to finding a void that we try to fill with our big hopes and dreams. Are we asking for too much? Most of us were raised by a generation of parents who filled our heads with ideas that we can be everything and anything we set our hearts out to be. Nowadays, this approach is being heavily criticised because it produced a generation of dreamers and slackers. https://www.elephantjournal.com/2017/04/why-im-a-millennial-dreamers-not-an-ahole/What the critics seem to forget is that the world needs more dreamers. Dreamers do not settle for what is now but they see all that can be and all that should be. Then they strive for it. This is why our Millennial generation appears to be stuck between what we have and what we want. This crisis that comes from being stuck in this limbo is the only way the human race can evolve. Being in a crisis means stepping out of your comfort zone and letting yourself dream, allowing yourself to live up to the potential you have inside of yourself. Crisis is what comes before enlightenment. http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/12/the-7-factors-of-enlightenment/Enlightenment cannot be achieved without contemplation about one’s own personal purpose on this Earth. The state of crisis compels us to take action and make a change. One of the interesting facts about Millennials, which differs us from generations before, is that many of us tend to value our free time most of all. When I say free time, I don’t necessarily mean time for being a couch-potato while binge-watching TV, although this is also a valid life choice. But free time can also include time for learning something that you really like even though you know you might never make any money out of it. For example, time for recreational sports, time for family meals, time for drinks with friends, or time to just think in peace. Many of us Millennials would give up bigger salaries in exchange for more free time. It seems like the newer generations are changing the paradigm—to be truly fulfilled and happy it is no longer enough to make lots of money. Although the older generations tend to call us rash and unpredictable, we seem to be striving for some of those old-fashioned traditional values with a modern twist. Meaning, we don’t care that much about getting married or having kids but we do care about spending time with our loved ones and having some alone time.

The trap that most of us fall into is we start comparing our lives to other people’s lives. What we must understand is that we are all individuals with our own timing and path. Life is like a brick road that we build brick by brick with each brick representing a part of ourself, something that defines and shapes our sense of self: love, family, loss, success, failure. Many things in life help shape us into the people we are going to become, even the things that are unpleasant. While building our brick road, we must never forget to layer it with kindness and understanding that everyone’s road is different. We cross paths with many people during life, some of them define us while others are just passing by. The road that we are on is a one-way road which means that we can fix some things that we have broken along the was but we can never turn back time and make it as if it had never happened. That is why we need to be mindful of ourselves and others. In this harsh economic and political times we are in when the world seems to be going insane, traveling down our road we will eventually find that the meaning of life is life itself. How precious and vulnerable it is yet we often take our time on this earth for granted. We should enjoy the simple things life has to offer. We should sing, dance, and not be afraid to make bold moves and choices like quitting a job or moving to a different country. We need to make our lives meaningful. As a generation of dreamers, we ought to try and make this world a better place and now allow ourselves to be pulled into this process of desensitization where they train us from an early age to get used to injustice, and devoid us of empathy. The meaning of life can only be found when we are truly spiritually, physically and mentally free to see the world realistically. Only then can we start changing what needs to be changed. Having freedom also means having the responsibility to act, react and to grant others the same amount of freedom that we have. The reason why so many of us Millennials are unsure about our future is that we do not know how the world will look like in a decade or more. Many of us are unsure whether or not we want to bring children into this kind of uncertainty. We cannot change the world overnight but we can start by being more attentive, empathetic and mindful towards others. We can start by changing ourselves.

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