Even my dinners have become an oversimplified mess. Macaroni and cheese dramatically improved my dinner from the usual bag of popcorn- 1 min. 45 sec. and wah-la dinner is served. Thanks blue box of cheesy processed noodles.
Food cravings aside, I’m tired. I just need to write it. Tired.
I’m not sure when it actually happens. I can’t identify a point in time where the change took place but I know it’s there. I know I’m no longer in the world of childhood where I have the safety of my parents wisdom to protect me and ‘be home by sunset’ is all I need to remember.
I’m an adult. I feel the pressure of bills, the work clock, the lack of boundaries, the need to get more done in faster times, the commitment to keep a healthy marriage. Sadly, I don’t experience this pressure just at work. In the time that I spend volunteering with high school students, it’s clear that our culture is placing the pressure to excel, succeed, faster, stronger, fitter on students.
Stop.
Am I really letting myself experience real relationship or am I just filling up my time with ‘should be’? Both in the world of the grown-ups and the world of high school students, are we providing opportunities for people to experience life on life? I’m worried that we’re moving so fast that our relationships are just skimming the top of who we are and not actually diving into the deep realities that we face.
“The best discipleship happens with life on life, it can’t be programed through five-step classes.” -Dave Gibbons
I’m not sure when it actually happens. I can’t identify a point in time where the change took place but I know it’s there. I know I’m no longer in the world of childhood where I have the safety of my parents wisdom to protect me and ‘be home by sunset’ is all I need to remember.
I’m an adult. I feel the pressure of bills, the work clock, the lack of boundaries, the need to get more done in faster times, the commitment to keep a healthy marriage. Sadly, I don’t experience this pressure just at work. In the time that I spend volunteering with high school students, it’s clear that our culture is placing the pressure to excel, succeed, faster, stronger, fitter on students.
Stop.
Am I really letting myself experience real relationship or am I just filling up my time with ‘should be’? Both in the world of the grown-ups and the world of high school students, are we providing opportunities for people to experience life on life? I’m worried that we’re moving so fast that our relationships are just skimming the top of who we are and not actually diving into the deep realities that we face.
“The best discipleship happens with life on life, it can’t be programed through five-step classes.” -Dave Gibbons
Despite the tears, I felt as though I was a strong woman ready to propel into the rest of my life. The truth is, looking back, I realize I was sort of a blubbering pile of soggy tissues.
I left Columbus, Ohio on a Sunday and started a new life on Monday in Chicago. Turns out starting a new life is challenging. Who knew?
Although my tears have subsided from the drastic change of plucking myself out of any kind of support from family or friends, I still feel sort of… alone.
At the end of the trips my husband and I take to visit family, I’m overcome with raw uncontrollable not-what-a-27-year-old-should-feel emotion. Visions of standing alone somewhere in a field in between Ohio and Illinois, with no cell phone, no help, no one to call can overwhelm a person. I’m not sad and I have no regrets for the decision to move. I’m ‘adjusting’.
I can’t help but wonder, what is the normal amount of time for a person to ‘adjust’ to living a new life?
*Full Disclosure: I have loving friends here who support me, I call my mom and dad for a weekly cheerleading session, and I love living in Chicago-ish.
Despite the tears, I felt as though I was a strong woman ready to propel into the rest of my life. The truth is, looking back, I realize I was sort of a blubbering pile of soggy tissues.
I left Columbus, Ohio on a Sunday and started a new life on Monday in Chicago. Turns out starting a new life is challenging. Who knew?
Although my tears have subsided from the drastic change of plucking myself out of any kind of support from family or friends, I still feel sort of… alone.
At the end of the trips my husband and I take to visit family, I’m overcome with raw uncontrollable not-what-a-27-year-old-should-feel emotion. Visions of standing alone somewhere in a field in between Ohio and Illinois, with no cell phone, no help, no one to call can overwhelm a person. I’m not sad and I have no regrets for the decision to move. I’m ‘adjusting’.
I can’t help but wonder, what is the normal amount of time for a person to ‘adjust’ to living a new life?
*Full Disclosure: I have loving friends here who support me, I call my mom and dad for a weekly cheerleading session, and I love living in Chicago-ish.
“People often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.” -Dr. Martin Luther King
The difference between millennials and boomers has captivated my attention. It’s like reading a personality profile, only for an entire group of people.
When I entered the world of sort-of corporate America, I discovered first hand the generational issues that plague the workplace. Naively i wanted to be a part of the team. Self confidently I thought I brought welcomed energy. Innocently i was sure people would embrace a new employee. I wasn’t totally wrong, but my young buck ideals were definitely off.
I believe there are a series of conversations that take place that are simply lost in translation between generations. It’s the difference between the paradigm of boomer’s ‘pull yourself up by your own bootstraps’ and the millennial’s ‘include me on the team- i want to add value and be a part of things’. Each generation has their own set of cultural norms that shape general ideas and behaviors.
How can we create a diverse workplace that celebrates the experience of boomers and the energy of millennials, without either generation being fearful of the other?
