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I should have been a Millennial

Inspired by NaBloPoMo writing prompt for Thursday, July 10, 2014:

Do you think you were born in the “right” decade, or do you feel like you belong to a different time period?

You know, I’ve pondered this question before – not intentionally, but as a result of two unrelated life experiences, one mine and one I observed from afar. And the somewhat tongue-in-cheek conclusion I reached was that I was not born in the right decade, but rather 25 years or so too early!

Yes, I’m from Generation X… but I think I should have been a Millennial.

My musings on the subject actually started a few years ago when I moved to Windsor. After a very short break to settle in to our new house I began working again – not at a new job, but rather carrying on with my existing employer back in Victoria, a couple of time zones across the country. Successfully setting up and carrying out a situation like this would have been very difficult – if not impossible! – even as little as ten or so years ago but now, thanks to the wonder that is the internet, these days it’s totally feasible.

And I love it! It didn’t take long before I discovered that working from a home office – something that for whatever reason I’d always assumed just wouldn’t be “me” – actually fits like a glove. It’s something I wish I could have done earlier, and something I hope to carry on with indefinitely.

So that’s my experience.

Working from home

The second experience – the one I observed from afar – was actually something I saw on TV, on one of those house hunting shows where people choose their new home from a selection of possibilities. This particular episode featured a young couple – somewhere around their mid-20s, I think – who were planning a move to Italy. I don’t remember exactly what the two of them did for a living, but it was their own online-based business (web design, I believe) that they could work at from any location, as long as they had a computer and internet connection.

As I watched the program and started to think about all the possibilities in this young couple’s world – their ability to pick up and go, to explore the world and experience other cultures and lifestyles, AND to take their job with them – I was filled with a sense of envy and touch of wistful regret for being born in the “wrong” decade and not having had the opportunity to make that particular career choice. After all, despite the fact that being connected and active online is a part of my everyday life NOW and something I wholeheartedly embrace, back when I was in my 20s, computers were basic and the internet wasn’t even around (at least not in a way that was accessible to the majority of society).

But if I was in my 20s today, I’d like to think that the path that couple is taking is the one I’d follow. First I’d get training and education in an internet-related field (a choice that simply wasn’t available back in the day), then I’d set up my own company – a non-location-dependent business – and get to work. And I’d explore the world! I’d live and work in a place for a few years – long enough to understand the language and culture and thoroughly explore all its nooks and crannies, but not so long that I got stuck in a rut – then I’d move on to a new adventure in a new locale. And it would be a great, rich, fulfilling life.

Yes, I really should have been a Millennial!

Do you think you were born in the “right” decade?
Please share!

UBC

NaBloPoMo July 2014

Laurel Storey, CZT – Certified Zentangle Teacher. Writer, reader, tangler, iPhoneographer, cat herder, learner of French and Italian, crocheter, needle felter, on-and-off politics junkie, 80s music trivia freak, ongoing work in progress.