Millenial Malaise and the Myth of Perfectibility

As a young professional who’s recently entered the full-time workforce, I am frequently asked how I’m liking my job and this new phase of life. For the most part, millennials seem to be categorized–by themselves and others–as falling into two camps of professionals: those stuck in disappointing jobs, holding out for the white whale of employment or the mystical few who’ve managed to find employment in dynamic, fulfilling fields. As one might expect, it’s not so simple.

We have a bit of a tendency to romanticize things. The prevalent idea is that, until you find a job that you would perform, unpaid, for the rest of your life due to your undying passion for the field, you haven’t found the right job for you. We’re often advised: “If you love what you do, you never work.” Part of this mentality is a swing of the pendulum from the shockingly compartmentalized lives of past decades–work paid bills and was necessary, end of story. Now, we’re told, our career is supposed to fulfill us at a deep level, blend seamlessly into our whole personality, and provide meaning to our lives. In fact, we’re told we deserve this.

This line of thought isn’t entirely off base. It’s certainly true that anything you spend more than a quarter of your life doing (at minimum) should have some significance to you. The problem isn’t the search for meaning, but the entitlement mentality toward it. Many goods in life require sacrifice, forebearance, and effort from those who seek them. As we start creating these romanticized notions of career or love, we indulge gnostic tendencies in imagining that there’s some special knowledge or growth we’ll go through on this earth that will unlock perfect goods, previously unattainable.

This simply can’t be. You might enjoy your career as a freelance journalist more than you did your high school job at an ice cream shop. But you are still you; some mornings, you’d rather sleep another hour than change the world by publishing your groundbreaking insights. Your future spouse won’t be magical and perfect and unblemished by the ups and downs any of your past relationships have gone through.

The next generation of young professionals will not achieve a perfect synthesis of personal identity and lucrative career. That’s because people, life, and the economy are too complex to directly correspond. I’m grateful for my job but it neither defines nor completes me–and that’s ok.