A Fleeing Generation

So tell me...

why we are always running? 

Escaping this moment, seeking for more, gasping for air, a breath, when this moment is no more than right here, but ever gone.

As Millennials, we become caught up with the social pressures of dating, exploration, and movement. We are programmed to go to school, play sports, play video games and/or read a book (depending what child you are), go to bed, repeat. You graduate college, then what? No more guidance, no more school to keep you bound to the pages. You are now free to choose. 

But now we don't want to commit, for we are an ever-fleeing generation. 

This pertains to relationships, work, and home.

I want to argue that this is a product of our society (don't think I'll meet much contention there), and possibly a product of our parents that rushed off to tie the knot. Why can't we appreciate, hold tight to this feeling of JOY, of love, appreciation, that faults us into fear, soaks us to our tips in confusion, longing, uncertainties, because we want more than anything for it to be true, real. But have to claim independent, solitude is what we need, for trust, why trust? 

 A good friend sent me this article, which is incredibly poignant, with a taste of cynicism. AmeriCorps is a quintessential example. As I rolled into this AmeriCorps term, I am rolling out as quickly as I began. We are fascinated with the idea of an internship, a fellowship, a position that will keep up for a short contract, that will soon let us go so we can soon find something new to fill our precious little Google calendars. Temporary. That way we can’t get attached. And what are we scared of?

I don’t think it’s wrong – but how do we connect deeply when we are so short-term? 

I connect with patients, share stories, they begin to trust… then we are off!

I find myself in this cyclic battle – a somewhat self-fulfilling prophecy. If I stay disconnected, if I create this wall to the outside, just to protect myself, I will be audaciously independent. With relationships, with my home life, with work. 

The way I justify this constant movement is by my ever-changing self that I know I will always be embodied with, literally. For as much as we meet, greet, and pass-by, we have to stay tuned into our own SELF because, at the end of the day, at the end of it all, it’s all we truly have.

[In the quiet moments alone, do you like the company that you keep?] 

As the most developed animal to date, our cognitive abilities have exponentially surpassed our ancestors, flawing us with the human condition. Fear in trust and anxiety, a positive feedback loop that makes us beyond crazy. But what’s crazy anymore?

In short, I’d like to transcend from these walls that serve as barriers from one to the next. Let go of this fleeing sensation – with a common denominator of fear – that provokes a need to go from one task to the next

… and just be.

I’ll give it a try.