The Brats Are Coming!

There's a Millennial Crisis. It is real, pervasive, and is mostly annoying. It makes me cringe when I hear it in others, and sometimes also in myself.

The crisis can hit at anytime in the first 10 years of a millennial's working career after college/grad school. It is brought on by steady achievement in the workplace and a favorable world environment (which we are in right now). This Earth is ripe for Millennials. Success stories of like-minded peers making it to the top via unconventional ways (i.e. NOT the corporate ladder) are increasingly close-by: "Oh yea, totally. I know a friend of a friend who made it big."

Everyone is an entrepreneur, and if you don't own a business, you can at least be entrepreneurial in your career. Ever heard that line? It's a wonderful mindset that is empowering, but it also inflates importance. It waters the seed in those who assume they are due more. The fantastical stories of tech startups are now real and close enough to touch (just join a coding school, duh). Just. The next step to modern stardom is just in front of you. Take it, you'd be lazy not to.

Its explicit pursuit of self-preservation is nowadays widely accepted, and even encouraged. There is no longer an assumed loyalty to a vocation. Dedication lasts as long as the attention does. I cringe when I witness it because I think it is generally a detrimental thing. Not only does it create an overly-optimistic and dreamlike view of the path to success, but it forces institutions to react accordingly. Every man for himself, survival of the fittest -- yet everyone believes they are the most fit. And when they don't feel valued, then it's time to pick up and leave rather than seeing the situation for maybe what it is -- the truth: you are not the fittest, and that's okay.

The Millennial Crisis doesn't settle for being a role player. You are a superstar, and if you're not in a superstar position, you will be because that's what you deserve, dammit! Mother said so!

This may be no different from the douchebags that have always existed, or the entitled brat you used to manage at work. People are people, and people can be shitty. The difference here is that the Millennial Crisis is the manifestation of how America evolved since the late 80's -- now, being a brat is masked by genius and admirable ambition. Millennials have made it popular to be shitty. There's no longer just one annoying guy in the room who's an aberration. The room with many annoying guys has been systematically created. The movement has begun to propel itself across generations and into popular culture. We are creating a new social norm of shaming meekness and praising self-worth. Carpe diem is ever alive, and now without much dignity.