Proud to be an Entitled Millennial
Millennial: Individuals born from the mid-1970's to mid-2000's
Entitled: Believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
Hi. My name is Erica, I'm 22 years old and I am a Millennial (read as: Adult in Training). I am currently enrolled in Adulting 101, on my way to becoming a Certified Adult.
Now, let's get this out there: I didn't choose the Gen Y life, the Gen Y life chose me. And just like how you Baby Boomers don't like being blamed for breaking the world, we also don't enjoy your stereotypes.
You can call us lots of things: loud, opinionated, entitled. You can say that we take too many selfies; you can say no one cares about what our brunch looks like (Yes they do). We seek instant gratification and lots of us are too attached to our phones. All of that may be true. But what you CAN"T call us is Lazy.
Take a hard look at us: we are the hardest working group of people you will ever find. And the spark that fuels our fire comes from true, authentic passion that helps us get through the long nights and early mornings and sleepy afternoons.
We're grateful to our parents for their long commutes and hard work when they were younger, so we DON"T have to start from the bottom. But please do not discredit us because of it.
I know lots of people who gave up high paying jobs to pursue a passion; or joining the risky startup world to work long hours for less pay because they're true believers in the work that they do - the disruptive nature of technology and passionate people can fuel positive change.
We do it all in the name of passion. The long hours, side hustle, multiple jobs. Networking sessions, finding mentors, learning new skills, collaborating with strangers. The community get-togethers, late nights, countless cups of coffee, and wearing a smokey eye to work that's actually yesterday's makeup smudged because of the all-nighter: planning and writing a book; preparing an investor pitch; coding a new algorithm; the list is endless.
From what I gather, you don't like it that I'm "entitled" because we know what we want and we aren't afraid to ask for it. We're not afraid to say "I don't know" and to ask those who do. We are entitled to our freedom, our voice, our choices, and our ability to say no.
I'm proud to be an entitled Millennial. You can call us Entitled, but you can't us Lazy.
