Millennialism
On turning 34…
A week ago, I turned 34 years old. I tried to sit down and write something about it, but didn’t have a great angle. Another year, same basic goals: write more, exercise more, generally be better at everything. While there are some more granular goals — buying a house! — not too much to say about those until they happen.
But reading a few things the past week alongside this birthday made me contemplate something I hadn’t really thought about before: I’m at the forefront of Millennials.
Depending on what you read, the range of what constitutes a “Millennial” varies. But it seems generally accepted as someone who grew up around the time of the crossover to the 21st century. In my case, I graduated from high school in 2000 — I always thought it was awesome to have a school letter jacket with ‘00’ on the sleeve — and was born in 1981, the year widely considered to be the first Millennial year (though some count 1980 as well).
The strange thing to me is that while the media increasingly talks about Millennials, I have never really thought to consider myself one. When I was growing up, I thought it would have been awesome to be a part of “Generation X” but I just missed the cut-off. Instead, I thought I was a part of the significantly less cool-sounding “Generation Y” — meh.
But at some point, Generation Y yielded to the onslaught of Millennial references. I just always thought of Millennials as someone younger than me — and the vast majority are — not that I was thrown in there as well.
Most of what you read about Millennials these days is the media trying to figure out what they think is cool, because they’re (we’re) now the generation setting trends. We’re also on the verge of being the generation with the most spending power, which is why such trends matter.
So that’s cool, I guess. But if I’m being honest, I feel like I have a lot more in common with those on the younger side of Generation X than with most Millennials. The fact that I can be lumped in with someone who is currently 15 or 16 years old just feels odd. I know basically nothing about such young people. So please don’t ask me what apps I use.
The good news is that I don’t feel old. I just feel older than what I read about when I read about Millennials. Which, in turn, does make me feel old.
But at least I’m not 35 yet. That’s old.
