I might be the only 20-year-old I know who loves millennials. Like, I really love them. The years-long running joke is that millennials are cringey, but despite their insistence on skinny jeans, side parts, and #adulting jokes, they truly have a lot more to offer than people realize. My friendship with one in particular has shaped my worldview in immeasurably positive ways.Â
High school and college are marked by friendships of convenience, formed out of insignificant commonalities like being in the same major or on the same floor of a dorm building. After all, these connections make the most sense. A shared stage of life can bring you much closer to your peers than any hobby or interest, but I would argue that deeper friendships take place outside of this predetermined structure.Â
In my case, becoming friends with a 35-year-old millennial has enriched my social life in a unique way, one that I could never experience with my college friends. On paper, it doesn’t make much sense. She grew up in the nineties (jealous), and I was born the year Mean Girls was released, but what we lack in common ground we make up for tenfold in the depth of our conversation. We could talk for hours about anything from the consequences of late-stage capitalism to what’s going to happen next on Love Island. Shared interests and shared humor seem to override the fact that we are in completely different stages of life, to the point where I sometimes forget we’re not the same age.Â
However, our age difference is not something to ignore, but rather something that adds perspective to my life. Her wisdom has helped me navigate all sorts of experiences with a maturity that my peers lack, and I often find she is one of the first people I can go to for advice. Objectivity is something that comes with age, and she is often able to look at situations with a much more level-headed outlook than my college friends. She’ll always tell me when I’m overreacting or when I’m completely justified, and her nuance is something I someday hope to have. Most importantly, on account of being a millennial, nothing I ever tell her is too cringey or embarrassing. Gen Z is notoriously judgmental, but as opposed to my college friends, self-consciousness is not something that exists in our friendship.
Breaking the mold of typical friendship is one of the best things I’ve ever done. In terms of life experience, she’s a mentor, and in terms of pop-culture knowledge, we are equals, which is a balance that could only be reached with a millennial. Engaging with someone who has a different worldview by virtue of age has continuously opened my eyes to perspectives that most people my age miss, and I would argue that my fellow college students would benefit from breaking this mold, too. This relationship has taught me that true friendship transcends a shared stage of life, and focusing on building connections based on values, humor, and deep conversation is the way to best enrich your social life. At 20 and 35, we technically live in different worlds, but that is exactly why our friendship feels limitless.