Where have the twenties gone!?

I was watching Hot Tub Time Machine for the first time the other night and had 2 profound thoughts: (1) Where can I find that hot tub? and (2) Is this what our Generation has come to believe? Let me explain.

Growing up in the 90s and into the 2000s, our generation is best depicted by watching TV sitcoms such as Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and more recently How I Met Your Mother, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  Continuing on into the movie realm, we generally enjoy offbeat comedies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Wedding Crashers, The Hangover, and of course Hot Tub Time Machine.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what all these have to do with one another.  Nothing, on the outside.  But delving further into the story lines and character backgrounds, most of these scenarios depict Generation Y in the older years, or more so, the "current" lives of our brothers and sisters who are 5 to 10 years ahead of us.  Generally speaking the story lines usually follow molds such as this:

A few close friends with fairly steady jobs and wavering relationships reminisce on the good old days and how their lives have gone very differently than what they expected as young "naive" youth. (That's us). Through whimsical dialogue, irresponsible actions, and funny scenarios stemmed from excessive sex and drinking, they end up realizing their lives are actually okay now that they have the One they've evaded all these years, the job they've been vying for, or are still humorously F*ed up and drinking at the end of the becase "It's hilarious!" laughter rolling through the credits...

or

Late thirty to forty something year olds, usually divorcees, are having early midlife crises as their uncontrollable teenage children terrorize their household while engaging in sex and drugs at very young ages, and all the while the parents are too consumed in their own post marriage arguments, dating scene, social catastrophes to notice or take part in their children's deteriorating behavior.  But it's ok! Becaue everybody's doing it! You're not alone out there in the real world and because it's on TV, it's ok for you too!

or

Having grown up in the generation of reality TV, we are predisposed to having watched The Real World, Osbornes, and of course the Kardashians. These are quite self-explanatory. 

Ok, back to reality....or is it?  Most of us Millennials are in our twenties and have grown up influenced by media such as these.  I can't help but wonder if that's the reason why so many of us at such a young age are already questioning why we haven't found The One, are President's in our careers, published book authors, or Hollywood moguls (excluding those few that have reached those aspirations at such a young age of course :) Not to mention, the repeated message of having a young mid-life crisis because you didn't take full advantage of your youth, married too young and with the wrong person, or are generally unhappy with your life but find comfort in drinking and social shenangans with other just as desolate friends. 

Does all of this mean that at such a young age, we're already trying to fulfill a destiny or makeup for lost time before that time has even come? If thirties are the new twenty, does that make us the academic age? Maybe that's why so many Mellenials are taking so long to start and finish college, or extending into graudate school, or waiting to leave the nest. We're being cornered into an extended academic career while already questioning our place in society and our lack of immediate success. We're stuck between the young mid life crises and the ever younger, trying to be older, teenie boppers!

Where have the twenties gone!?


For your added reading pleasure.
100 TV Shows that Defined a Decade

Cutting the Umbilical Cord: Taking Advantage of the Baby Boomers

"I feel so bad, like I owe them so much. They've done so much for me, and are still supporting me. I feel stuck trying to return my thanks and yet, I still can't let go."

Does this sound familiar?

Most of us Mellenials are already well into our twenties, an age that prior to our generation accounted for a life already bogged down by extreme responsibilities.

In history, and even currently in some cultures and religions around the world, age had an entirely different expectation:

Age 13: Boys became men and were often "inducted" into this new responsibility.
Age 15: Women were married off and most times already expecting their first born child.
Age 18+: Both Man and Woman work to support older generations and the next in line.

This makes me wonder, as our lifespans increase with improved science and technology, are we lengthening the time it takes to "grow up" while taking advantage of our parents?

I came across an article entitled Boomers Go Bust Over Kids. A very interesting look into how Generation Y is causing a financial rift for their parents, the Baby Boomers.

According to the article one-quarter of, kippers, or "kids in parents' pockets eroding retirement savings, continue to live at home, and of that 25%, it's mostly 20 to 30 year old's still living at home.

'Having spent many years in their parents' well-established homes, Generation Y has grown accustomed to a high standard of accommodation and is now demanding well-located housing that is also spacious and affordable,'' McCrindle says.

''Many of them are expecting to start their economic life in the manner in which they've seen their parents finish theirs.''

An adviser with mortgage broker Smartline, Kim Wight, agrees. ''The perception is that it is difficult for kids to get ahead but the kids also have to realise that they are never going to have what mum and dad had [straight away], because they worked all their lives for it,'' Wight says.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/boomers-go-bust-over-kids-20110910-1k2rs.html#ixzz1nBPLf3OF

So at what point, I have to ask, is all of this love, kindness, and support actually hindering our growth?  Is the love of our parents and our own hesitation at letting go and taking a chance at the good and bad actually preventing us from becoming self-sufficient additions to society's future?

Parents generally want the best for their children, and strive to give every opportunity they can to succeed in life, but will it take them getting older and their pockets emptier to finally say "enough is enough, get out of my house and out of my wallet" to force us to get off of our comfortable asses and take charge of our own lives? Or have we become so self-obsessed with taking the time to discover our dreams, careers, and futures that we're subconsciously taking advantage of past generations and pro-longing our onset into adulthood?

Will it take something drastic to happen before the umbilical cord gets cut and we choose to "grow up?"

Even Peter Pan, in all of his childhood whim, was supporting the Lost Boys.

A new era was born.

Carrie and I continued breathlessly up the trail, with no idea where the hell we were going.  All we knew was that the incline kept getting steeper and there was no end as far as the eye could see.

"When does the trail turn?" Carrie gasped, stopping to catch her breath.  I stopped beside her and bent forward, clutching my aching side.
"Hell if I know, are sure you don't want to turn back?"
She looked back the way we came, pondering for a second as she took in the vast Los Angeles landscape spread out below us.
"No, I think going back will be much harder. Let's just keep going and see what happens."

Unknowingly, Carrie had just summed up what we had been discussing for the last hour and half, what were we doing with our lives? Apparently, we were winging it.

Recently turned 23, Carrie was a college graduate in media production and was currently freelancing (yet again) on another low budget, independent film, in a position she recently discovered she no longer felt fulfilled in.  Coincidentally, Carrie wasn't the first to doubt her career choice post-college in the wake of the recession and waning hopes of a fulfilling career. I had only just met Carrie in the last few months, at an event hosted by the Los Angeles 20s, a group dedicated to the meeting and bonding of the namesake.  We became instant friends while musing over our mutual love of filmmaking and travel, and have since progressed to hiking and local adventure buddies, as well as life conversationalists.

Carrie has since become a close friend and simultaneously, another Generation Y statistic.  She has become part of a thought I've had brewing in my mind as conversation after conversation with twenty-somethings triggered a subconscious reaction: all are saying variations of the same thing: "Help! I'm lost!"

This epiphany has got me wondering, if so many of my friends have expressed in one form or another the same fears, is this not a link to a bigger picture depicted as Generation Y? Are we not essentially all going through the same worries and concerns cross-globally? That's when it hit me. Regardless of our backgrounds and upbringing, something holds us all together as a unified front: our birth dates.

Another defining characteristic of Generation Y is our easy understanding of and reliability on technology, especially social media.  In one click, we can instantly be connected to friends and family, regardless of where we're located. That being said, we not only have the ability to expand our relationship circles locally, but also cross-globally.  I couldn't help but notice that although my circle of twenty-something friends was constantly expanding around the world, and even though each individual is on a different life paths, there are still universal characteristics that hold us Mellenial's (another Gen-Y nickname) together, we don't know what the hell we want let alone how to get it.

Most, if not all of the conversations I've held with Gen-Y's in recent months have at one point or another lightened on the questions of what are you currently doing with your life and are you happy doing it.  I've noticed that when the topic comes up, there is often a moment's hesitation before the repetitive excuses begin.  Ironically enough, the excuses that come aren't meant to convince the external audience, but morose the inner voice of anxiety that keeps asking "What am I doing?"

We Mellenials (also defined as Echo Boomers born between 1980 and the early 2000s), are a more educated, technology driven, success focused generation oriented on fulfilling life's desires...without knowing what those desires are.  The only problem is, although we have come to understand we have the freedom and choice to become anything we want to be, we seem to be paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of all of the choices.  In an ice cream shop full of 31 choices, how do you pick the right combination for taste bud happiness? Even more complex in a world filled with endless possibilities, where do you even begin to know what or which dream to pursue?

From the Pacific to the Atlantic to all in-between, I've decided that despite our differences in economical, cultural, and geographical upbringings, Gen-Y is a collective group of young adults all lost in the same question: who am I and what do I want out of my life?

With the help of my internationally displaced friends as well as the new acquaintances I meet along the way, I hope to discover exactly who is Generation Y, what drives us, and how we as a technology driven era, can unite to answer those universal questions that linger at the forefront of all of our minds.

Introducing Generation WHY. We're here, we're now, we're confused