I’m a huge fan of YPulse, especially their daily newsletter that keeps me up to date on all things Millennial. I was honored to have the opportunity to write a guest blog post for their site. As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic — please share in the Comments!
Gen Y and the Pursuit of Happiness
Could anything be more fundamentally American than the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Probably not. But the definition of that last, elusive word — happiness — seems to be changing dramatically as the Millennial generation enters adulthood.
Ask your parents or grandparents to define happiness and they’ll surely talk about love, friends, and family. Next, they’ll probably mention succeeding in their chosen career, owning a nice home, and having a solid nest egg.
But ask a Gen Y, and the definition of success and happiness may sound quite different. As journalist Hannah Seligson recently wrote of her peers in the Washingtonian, “Instead of a steady job, they want a meaningful one that serves a larger purpose or fulfills a personal passion. And instead of settling down with a spouse and mortgage, they want more years of freedom to chase career dreams and explore different paths before they have to make tradeoffs.”
For Millennials, things like climbing the corporate ladder, socking away money for a home, and building up retirement savings have one serious drawback: they take a lot of time. And, in my experience, Millennials don’t like to wait.
