11.17.2017

Help! Why We Need It Now More Than Ever

Image result for helping hands


It's not the most cheery of subjects, but we all need more help now than ever before. The generational divide between millennials and the previous generations means that our generation has been stamped with a few labels that are quite unfair. The fact of the matter is, but while lots of people are now deemed to be lazy, entitled, and disrespectful, is it actually more the fact that the modern world is considerably more difficult now than it ever was before? So, let's try and break this down, and try to find an answer in how we can address these issues, but also, learn to cope better.


The Cost Of Living
The issue of rising costs is nothing new, but it would seem that now, the rate of inflation, coupled with ongoing contemporary issues, be it political or financial, means that the millennial generation is feeling the pressure when it comes to all things financial. We are the generation that cannot afford to buy a house, and while the perspective from the older generations is that we are not tightening our belts enough. In fact, the painful truth is that because of these rising costs, the dream of owning your own home vanished a long time ago, approximately around the time of the financial crash. So what do we do to cope with the financial burden? We take out loans, credit cards, and work as many jobs as is feasibly possible. It isn't uncommon to see people of any age in a metropolitan city, like London, working one full-time job, but also tending bar or serving customers during the evenings or on weekends. That, right there, disproves any notion of the fact that millennials are lazy. In fact, we work so hard, but after rent, bills, and essentials, we have very little in which to enjoy yourselves properly. So, can we be blamed for the fact that we are taking out credit cards? As the saying goes, you can't take it with you when you go, money that is. So, why shouldn't we enjoy ourselves?


Some people are very lucky, they leave college, hit the right career trajectory, and they work up the ladder before retiring at 50 and spend the rest of their days lazing on a beach. There are also plenty of entrepreneurs who are a beacon of hope for us who feel stuck in a dead-end job. But the one thing that separates us from those entrepreneurs that made their millions in their early twenties, is that they were so focused on making money, that everything else flew out the window, their health, their relationships, even their families! So, you need to ask yourself the question that if you want to live a good quality life, right now, where you are able to enjoy yourself and to socialize, why shouldn't you put that dinner on a credit card? Of course, this can only go on for so long. The shadows of debt, and repaying those credit cards will sneak up on you soon enough. There are resources available, such as https://www.debtconsolidationloans.com/find-reliable-debt-consolidation-loan-company/, which will show you methods and means to support yourself if you find yourself in extreme debt, but most people would tell you that you shouldn't have got yourself into debt in the first place. And this is for the usual reasons, you cannot get a good credit score by racking up so much debt, which will an impact on your ability to buy a house, and so forth. But, as so many of us are unable to afford the down payment for a dream home, and it seems that now the only way to do it is to rely on the bank of mom and dad. The sheer expense of living now, in comparison to 30 years ago, where you could afford to buy a house on a single income, is a different beast entirely.


The Silent Epidemics
With our generation being keener than the previous ones to talk about how we feel, and how everything is impacting on us, inevitably, we are seeing a lot more cases of depression, anxiety, and mental health issues than ever before. So why is this? Is it the difficulty of the modern world feeding into our sense of anxiety? The oft-used expression FOMO, fear of missing out, is used a lot now in relation to social media. That pressure of having a phone glued to our sides, feeling that we need to update our followers on a regular basis, that weight of expectation alone is anxiety-inducing. This is why now we've seen a shift in balance, where lots of people are swapping the smartphone for an old-school model, one that is used purely for telephone and text conversations. But this is only one piece of the puzzle, millennials are considerably more pressured than previous generations, not just because of technology, as well as the financial constraints, but also population has a part to play.


Without going into detailed mathematics, naturally, with more people in the world, there is a lot of competition for a lot of jobs. Lots of people are desperately trying to make a living, by taking the first job available to them, which might very well be a contact center. Now, contact centers have a role to play in society, and yes, it gives people a way to earn money, but if you were to survey those people working in contact centers, how many would you say are truly happy with their job? The model of telesales, conducting telephone surveys, or working in customer service over the telephone, appears to be the default role for most people who are unable to get their chosen job. As a result, the turnover in these types of roles is incredibly high. This then feeds into a feeling of inadequacy, which naturally can have a detrimental effect on people's mental health. So, what is the solution to this? There has been an increase in the amount of people going self-employed. And not just in the aforementioned entrepreneur's guise, but people are able to go self-employed, and loan out their skills out to various online employers as a freelancer. You only have to do a quick Google search to find sites like https://www.upwork.com/ and see how much work there is out there for a self-employed person. And part of the reason people are choosing this way of living is that it gives them more control over there life. People are choosing the self-employed route because they can, to an extent, set their own hours, and how much work they do. This isn't the world of the 9 to 5, clock in and clock out culture, but instead, set yourself up to be a happier worker. Working to live, as opposed to living to work. And this is in direct contrast to the generations of yesteryear, where you should work every single hour, regardless of how it affects you emotionally. And yes, hard work is noble, but the older generations weren't so keen to seek out help when it was needed, preferring the stiff upper lip attitude. This, however, doesn't work in today's society.


Where Is The Solution?
So what is the best way to cope in the modern world? It seems that because of something like social media, there is a support network, albeit not a personal one. The real support lies in the traditional values of yesteryear, such as family and friends. We operate at such a breakneck pace now that the people we go back to will always be the ones we grew up with. It seems now there is a higher quantity of fair-weather friends among us, but to contrast that statement, if you are in dire need of support, there are people out there who will drop everything and come to you, especially if you post a Facebook status stating that do you need help.

Coping with the increased pressures of the modern world is not an easy task, and you wouldn't hear them admit it, but there have been older generations that were grateful to grow up in a time where there wasn't technology, where there wasn't an unlimited choice and endless bombardment. The use of smartphones alone means that we are practically on call 24 hours a day, and it's this sort of pressure that the older generations don't understand. We do need more help now, be it financial, emotional, or even spiritual support to deal with the trappings of debt, depression or feeling the pressure. But the one thing we don't do now is help ourselves, and, ironically, with the amount of support out there, such as the Samaritans, you are entitled to take a step back, and reassess what is important in your life. Maybe we do place a lot of importance on a social media presence, but much like money, can you take it with you after you've gone? It's now time to look at the world with a different perspective, and not just help ourselves, but help others that are feeling this millennial pressure.

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