BEFORE
– Study
– Graduate
– Find a stable job
– Get married
– Buy a house
– Have children
– Make a career
– Enjoy your retirement
– 92 years old: RIP. “Let the earth be mild…”
NOW
– Study
– Graduate
– Do the first internship (unpaid because to apply for the position a doctorate and 5 years of experience are required)
– Take a master’s degree abroad
– Go back to do internships (with the possibility of hiring, which never materializes)
– Take a refresher course
– Go back to do internships (there are no 2 without 3), to continue training with a tiny salary
– Present yourself to a thousand offers only for them to tell you: “You don’t have enough experience for this position”
– Gain more experience
– Do job interviews again only to be told: “I’m sorry, you’re overqualified”
– Learn Chinese, then French and then Esperanto and then Aramaic
– Find a part-time job
– Buy a house… Ahem… Rent a room for $700/month
– When are you getting married? The rice is overcooked
– Use dating apps (suffering ghosting and being “diagnosed” with narcissism)
– Read at least 52 books a year
– Get up at 5 in the morning and take a cold shower because gas costs too much
– Do intermittent fasting (because there is no time to eat)
– Use social networks, apply filters… suffer FOMO and social anxiety
– Artificial intelligence will steal your job… (which you don’t have)
– Go vegetarian, buy organic products, travel sustainably (you can’t afford to buy a car anyway)
– Find your passion
– Leave everything (what you don’t have) and become a digital nomad
– Make a career (becoming your own CEO)
– You haven’t tried hard enough: network, work on your personal brand, sell yourself well…
– Take care of your LinkedIn profile, create a podcast, open a YouTube channel to make yourself known
– Close LinkedIn, podcast and YouTube channel (total, none of them work)
– Stressed? Overwhelmed? Do yoga, meditation, go on a spiritual retreat (even if you can’t afford it)
– Compare yourself with all those who are successful on social networks, in the office, on the street and even in the metaverse…
– Ask yourself what you are doing with your life
– Enter an existential crisis thinking that you have done everything wrong and that you are falling behind
– 30 years: RIP. “May the exhaustion be light for you…”
BOOMER: “In my time, young people wanted to work…”
THE END
Andrea Giuliodori reflected ironically on the demands to which the new generations have been subjected for at least a couple of decades. Without a doubt, each era contains its own challenges. Not before was the path so easy and linear, nor have all opportunities been closed now.
However, what perhaps best defines the world of recent years is precisely the over-demand. The fact that everyone carries their own forced labor camp, to paraphrase the philosopher Byung-Chul Han, generates considerable emotional tension as society constantly changes the rules of the game, looking more and more like an impossible gymkhana.
That feeling of being in a labyrinth with a moving exit that shows you that “You can, but you can’t”, increases anxiety while the culture of toxic optimism takes hold that uses guilt like a boomerang, making you believe that, if you don’t succeed, It’s because you’re not trying hard enough or you’re not positive enough.
Thus they become personal problems that are structural, according to Zygmunt Bauman. Vital fatigue is confused with demotivation and lack of opportunities with absence of initiative.
However, it’s not always your fault.
It’s not always your fault that you can’t straighten out your life the way others want you to.
It is not always your fault that your strength abandons you as you swim against the current.
It’s not always your fault that you feel lost, unmotivated or frustrated.
It’s not always your fault that you can’t do everything.
It’s not always your fault that you don’t succeed in what you set out to do because the challenges are immense.
Don’t let the guilt set in. Your discomfort is natural. And you haven’t always caused it yourself.
Of course, it is not about falling into chronic victimhood or absolute pessimism. It is about understanding that we live in a different and changing world where not everything depends on our will and effort. It’s about redefining goals, changing the roadmap, looking for what fulfills us and rethinking everything.
We may not be able to “shorten” the path, but at least we will enjoy it more.
