Life is bloody hard at times. It can take effort to stay chipper and see the good stuff at times. At least we can take some consolation in knowing that we aren’t alone. In many ways, we are all in the “crazy soup of life” together. We may try to put on a brave face and society still insists we keep our problems to ourselves but many of us are living parallel lives, whilst feeling alone and isolated at the same time. Oh the irony.
Common issues that many millenials face:
High anxiety
Anxiety is often caused by faulty negative thinking. We assume we know what others are thinking about us, we assume others have more than us and we imagne worst case scenarios. Millennials need to know they’re more than capable of working through those thoughts and coming out stronger than they realise.
Not feeling good enough
Social media hasn’t helped. We are bombarded with happy images on Facebook, Twitter etc and have to witness the highlights of other people’s lives. Keep perspective, no one’s life is perfect all the time. Refrain from constantly comparing and despairing. What is everyone else doing should be less of a focus – focus on what you want to do and what goals you need to feel a sense of purpose.
Feeling helpless about the world
Inequality and the state of the environment are especially important to millenials. If you genuinely feel you’re doing as much as you can about the causes you’re concerned about, additional anxiety won’t help the problem be solved faster.
Lack of money
Most millenials are being crushed by too much debt. Many millennials feel ‘owned’ by their financial situations.
Pressure to please
Millenials say that they constantly feeling the need to please and meet high expectations. This comes from parents, authoritative figures, peers, the media and society. In my private practice I am seeing far more people than ever before with perfectionism issues. This leads to high anxiety and their self worth is closely linked to striving and achievement.
Disillusionment
Work creates the biggest amount of disillusionment. Millennials start out all enthusiastic but the drudgery and monotony of everyday life seeps in. The reality of the job post becomes polluted by office politics, over-competitiveness and satured job roles leading to disillusionment.
Indecisiveness
Too many choices can lead to procrastination. A fear of making wrong decisions then creeps in which can lead to anxiety.
The above issuse make for dismal reading but the ket is not to over-generalise or catastophise. Try to forge your own path and maintain a blank canvas that you fill with your own experiences rather than the regrets and failures of others.
Be curious about the world and stay optimistic and you will already be in the top 5%.
Mandy X
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
