We millennials shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves.
4. “I should be making so much money by now.”
While it would be amazing to be making a huge load of money right now, in a culture where we’re expected to help the family after graduation despite meager starting salaries, while not totally impossible, prolongs the finish line of having to save a certain amount of money. You’re young. You just started. You should be able to cut yourself some slack in the midst of some serious adulting —paying your own bills?? What sorcery is this? — while you’re trying to learn the ropes. Eventually, with some responsible saving and priority setting, you should be able to find your footing.
3. “I should know what I want to do by now.”
There are some fortunate people who immediately know what they want to do the minute they step out of college and spend the rest of their quarter life fulfilling their life vocation. But if you don’t know what you want to do yet, it’s okay — as long as you don’t stop finding what you want. We get it, life has so much to offer you and you want to explore those options. As long as you don’t stop being productive, and your indecisiveness does not become an excuse for you to “bum around”, you do you. Take this time to pick up skills that, while it won’t end up becoming something critical to your career choice, might come in handy in the future.
2. “I should be travelling.”
It seems mandatory for every millennial nowadays to pick up a backpack and lug it across the mountains of Tibet in order to “find themselves”. While so many of these people have found success in travel and I admire them for having the courage to leave their comfort zones, if you find yourself sulking because you feel like you should be on a plane to Europe right now to pick some grapes in some Italian vineyard, there are a variety of reasons why not everyone can do it — either due to lack of funds, the number of responsibilities, and the indispensable opportunities back home. And it’s OK. While there are undoubtedly, benefits and lessons to be learned when travelling, the milestones to be had back home aren’t less of any achievements, either.
Whether you’re preparing for long-term financial stability or just saving enough bucks for that out-of-the-country trip next year, you are fine.
1. “I should be successful by now.”
JK Rowling got Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone published at 32. Alan Rickman became an actor at 36. Vera Wang designed wedding gowns at 40. While it would be ideal to become the next Zuckerberg and become some millennial wunderkind who’s headed for early retirement (if he plays his cards right), success even toward the end, and even after your 20s is totally possible and achievable. Again, as long as you don’t stop working on yourself.
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