For every Facebook post by a Baby Boomer about how lazy and entitled Millennials are, there are dozens of articles citing Millennials as being significantly more stressed out than prior generations. This isn’t because the Millennials were born, and suddenly everything became really stressful. The general trend in society is leading towards young people feeling an increasing amount of pressure. Colleges are getting harder to get into and more expensive, and a degree is getting less and less helpful. None of this will surprise a Millennial, but this isn’t another article about how stressed out we are. Millennials are more than a statistic.
This isn’t about them, it’s for them.
Actually, it’s for me. I’m a college student, and a Millennial according to about half of sources. The others call me a “Cusp-er.” Either way, I’m overwhelmed. So I’m going to write about it, and hope that the many other people who are also overwhelmed will find some comfort in me putting all my stress out there. I’ve been told before that I’m “relatable,” which I think is code for the fact that I don’t hide when I feel like a hot mess. So here I am. Not hiding.
Lately, when people ask how I am, my immediate answer is “Stressed.” And then they ask why, and to be honest, I don’t always know. Sometimes it’s just everything, and everything is too much. Maybe it’s because I don’t have my housing for next fall figured out yet, and because I’ve gone through multiple rounds of thinking I have it figured out, only for it to fall apart. Maybe it’s because my major has changed multiple times, each time with a new, complete plan for my future. Maybe it’s because I haven’t applied to go abroad yet, even though applications don’t open for a month.
As you can see, I don’t like not having everything figured out. And I rarely have things figured out. I transferred to WashU from Syracuse University, and every step of the way I’ve had a complete plan. A complete plan which has completely changed countless times. But at some point I got to actually doing that plan, and now I’m here. I left my major and my friends and what I knew, and completely started over.
I wish I could tell you that leaving completely paid off and was the exact right choice and everything worked out. But I’m beginning to learn that not everything works out the way we want. The truth is I don’t know if coming here was the right choice. I don’t think it was the wrong choice, and I don’t regret it, but I’m never going to know what the right choice was. I sacrificed some things in coming here. I left my friends and my sorority and my plan. Deciding to transfer schools was one difficult decision in an unending line of difficult decisions. But I made that decision, I did what I thought was right, and here I am.
I can’t tell you that everything works out perfectly. Sometimes everything is up in the air and you don’t know what you’re doing or if you should be doing something else. Sometimes life is hard and everything is just too much. But then you get through that, and you figure it out for exactly a minute before something else happens.
I can tell you that everything happens for a reason. I really do believe this. My belief in this has wavered in my lowest moments, but it was always what brought me back up. Something happens, and you get through it, and then it sets up the next thing. In the end, it does all work out.
But that’s long term, and does nothing to alleviate how you’re feeling right now. So what I can tell you is that it will be okay. Whether you’re overwhelmed by things happening right now or the future or both, it will be okay. It’s okay if you need to repeat that a bunch of times or call a parent figure or a best friend and have them tell you a bunch of times. I wrote an article to help myself believe it.
It’s okay if you don’t know what you’re doing. And it’s okay if you feel like you’re the only one who doesn’t know what you’re doing. But you aren’t. And both long term and short term, you’re okay. You will be okay.