The millennial manifesto

I’ve been a believer in millennials and increasingly so.

But, there is a journey to be taken from being the ‘soft, self-obsessed, entitled’ butt of GenX jokes to truly claiming our place as the ‘next’ generation….

At Blue Ribbon Movement and other youth ecosystems, we’re figuring some of this recipe…and I’m more sure than ever before about our potential….

Here are some credos that seem to work…

a) Embracing voluntary sacrifice and suffering

For GenX, suffering = you’re not doing well in life. For us though it is the opposite. We have the privilege of being pampered in so many ways that we’ve forgotten the joy of suffering.

In our pursuit to get the ‘best’ deal out of everything we have forgotten how to sacrifice. To me, that’s a starting point of a deeper change.

Not what I can get but what am I willing to give up? Not what was fun but what was the right thing to do (even if not fun)

We’ll have to learn this ourselves cos circumstances have gotten easier, they ain’t teaching it to us.

b) Learning to trust and be trust-worthy

It’s a world of lies and fake signalling all around. But not trusting isn’t an option either — that will freeze you into inaction. How do you trust? Who do you trust?

The start of that is with being trust-worthy. Do you keep your word? Can you be counted on to show up (irrespective of how you’re feeling today)? Are you serious and committed?

As you do this, your ability to sense who to trust and who is bullshitting will start getting better. And, there is no escaping some heartbreaks in the business of trust. The path to learning who to trust is through foolishness :)

c) Bursting the bubble of self-deception

We’re expert story tellers with language, metaphors and logic at our disposal. The rhetoric of our times comes to us naturally so for anything, we have an amazing, believable and powerful story to explain things away.

In doing this we have started to get lost in our own stories, losing track of what’s real and what is made up (and interpreted). We’ve lost connect with our deeper motivations and drives.

We lie to ourselves, often.

Around us are people who buy these lies, often because they may not have the cognitive super power or language to bust it. But they sense something is off.

So, all the gyaan gotta be embodied rather than spoken about. Stories need to be kept at safe distance. Spirit and conscience to be the guide (reclaiming the voice in the head that tells you when you’re doing wrong)

d) Pursuing purpose fully

Pursuing purpose is sexy and the quest of our generation. Did anyone tell you that it is also very expensive and will cost you a lot of convenience, security and opportunities?

FOMO can’t exist with pursuit of purpose. Just because you’re doing what you find meaningful doesn’t mean you will succeed or be famous.

And while you’re doing that Bachata workshop or Capoeira, there is someone else sucking it up and slogging to make the money.

When you meet each other in 30s or 40s, remind yourself that your choices have consequences.

Embracing purpose is its own reward — all else, is a bonus.

e) Finding completion in oneself

You’re bang in the middle of late capitalism — everything wrong about you has a solution. Buy something.

Showing off in social media means that inadequacies are in the shadows. It is not okay being you. You suck. But you constantly show a side of yourself to the world that gets approval but is not you.

Stuck in this, it is hard to find your own anchor, to be adequate in yourself. The endless pursuit of having, of becoming something can’t be based on some incompletion.

Else, it will either bottom out or take you to a place you never wanted to be.

f) Tapping into the power of hope and action

it is cool to get existential, even suicidal. The world’s breaking down, climate’s changing and extremism is on the rise.

The answer is not to take a drag from your joint and to feel cool about “One Love”. It isn’t about perfect an incisive analysis of what’s wrong.

It is about action — and doing something even if it is small, pointless and insignificant. That in turn generates hope and hope is what we desperately need to see ourselves through this. (We will!)

(On that note, consider joining into South Asian Youth Conference)

g) Embracing the paradoxes of our times

We might be moving to meta-modernity…wild swings between existential despair and positive thinking.

Our times require us to draw from the very system that we are trying to change. Accepting ourselves can’t be an excuse to not change. Positivity doesn’t mean turning blind to oppressive power structures.

It is all very confusing and unlikely to get any better. We will need to create and recreate clarity.

As we create new ventures and wealth, we will have to embrace simplicity.

The list goes on and on….

h) Owning us and owning the world

Growing up includes owning where the world is. Gen Z is already turning against previous generations saying “you screwed up”.

We will have to own our part, clean up as much of the mess as we can, and that begins with owning our lives.

i) Reclaiming faith

In pursuit of rationality, we’ve lost the beauty of faith…the rituals, the belief, the belonging that comes with a system that has gone on for generations…the rooting…

While we don’t need to follow the dogmas of religion, we have to reclaim the beautiful aspects of it….

The space for the sacred has been destroyed….When we find it again, we will also find the gift of accepting some things unconditionally, as given.

j) Celebrating follower-ship : the leadership of the ordinary

We’ve glamourised leadership to a level where everyone wants to lead but not follow….to reclaim leadership as including the capacity and ability to follow…

And to see the beauty in ordinary people who exercise leadership in ways that may not be as visible but equally profound….

(more on this in some other post)

Now before going all post-modern about this, interpreting it ‘subjectively’ and starting to raise objections, for a change, try it?

And, let me know how it goes :)