BREAKING DOWN THE STEPS FOR AN EMBRACEABLE FUTURE TO SNUGGLE

Breaking down anything to its basics is harder if you’ve never done it before.

No matter how careful and cautious you are to include everything important, there’s always something missing.

It’s like younger people breaking down the aging process. The only thing missing there is the age part, but that doesn’t stop anyone.

I read an essay written by a millennial woman at the top range of the generation. She had just turned FORTY.

Now I can’t find it, but I did find this.

You don’t have to look far to find support for millennials. It’s one of my favorite generations.

Still, the aging part is starting to take hold.

First Thing, Embrace The Past

Keep in mind the world didn’t start the day you were born. Your parents might tell you that your entire life, but that doesn’t make it true.

It helps if they clarify that THEIR real lives started the day you were born.

Real Life for Baby Boomers meant stepping away from the mirror and caring about something besides themselves, from grooming the perfect hairstyle to match a trendy new coat, to finding just the right music for every occasion.

Baby Millennial changed boomer focus and everyone settled into the job of not screwing up their kids worse than their parents did them.

Not that boomers have voiced any real complaint. People raised by The Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation learned to shut up. It’s an enviable trait.

But we eventually got over it and made more noise than an anti-war protest or concert in the mud.

The patient millennial will see the world turn toward them, as it always does out of necessity when others age out, and make it better.

The big, bad, boomers, will fade into the history books, replaced by an even bigger generation.

It’s all fun and games until the work starts

Boomer parents are not the monsters they may be remembered as.

At the same time, who is better prepared than millennials to spread the word.

They can explain to their kids that Grandma and Grandpa didn’t ruin the economy, kill the planet, and skew priorities to benefit the few over the many.

It might look that way, but who wants to be remembered as the Doom Generation.

Who were the coked up masters of the universe reigning supreme from their backyard? Where are the stoned jungle runners living off stolen valor and the field jacket they bought at the Army Surplus store? The men who have been everywhere and done everything based on movies they’ve seen? Where are they?

That’s a short list of the kind of people who deserve blame for being stupid. They attend covid spreader events, storm the Capitol, and pray for the reinstatement of their wet-dream former president.

Millennials can do so much better, starting with taking a side without trashing others. Having an opinion doesn’t make it the only worthy opinion. Repeating talking points from a once obscure news source doesn’t make an authority.

The millennial job moving forward is harvesting the customs and traditions they want to be remembered for, because the clock is ticking.

Breaking Down Fear

If it all works out, millennials will live past forty and look forward to each decade celebration afterward from 50, to 60, to 70, 80, and 90.

Forty is only halfway there, and the thought of it all can be terrifying.

From heart disease to dementia to cancer and any combination of every possible debilitating disease, we’re all targets.

The covid pandemic is a window on how to respond to severe health issues, and how not to respond.

Global warming response shows how nations of earth can join together. How’s that working out?

Someone at forty might see it all differently than someone a few decades older.

I’ve heard older people say how glad they are to not have to face this uncertain future while they embrace their mortality.

For balance, I’ve heard concerned younger people talking about their loss of hope, their dashed dreams.

Learning to deal with the end of life is a lesson for anyone living life their way.

In a big picture world, you still have a little picture to work with. You will have loss, disappointment, and confusion. That doesn’t change, but breaking down your response can.

A killer disease might lurk in the dark, so keep a light on.

A life threatening menace may lay just beneath the surface of everyday life, so check on the situation.

Not everyone is a fully trained janitor in their life, but clean up and maintenance is always a priority.

Breaking Down Constant Change

Do we live in uncertain times? Yes, the same as anyone anywhere. Times are always uncertain, which is why it’s important to embrace the past.

Older people fear what’s coming for them and project that fear away so they don’t look like scaredy cats.

Younger people feel the old fear and apply it to themselves. Don’t do that.

This is where the generations divide, where both sides claim their rightful place.

And it’s the same place.

I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he’d done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping then he turned around and headed home again

He’s slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away