I read blogs out there on the inter-universe, and articles, which are really blog pieces, and I think to myself – I just feel confused about where I fit. But thankfully, a fellow-writer, Julia Bell, has this piece that tells us that it is actually important to think about your purpose, and accept yourself.
Millennials the Consumer Majority.
There is a lot of talk about Millennials these days, because they are at the heart of the labor force and consumer groups that are the focus of advertising and the media. I go back to that generational part of my life when I was in my 30’s (phase into where they are moving or are), and think about the crazy parts, especially, and how, if I had to do that now, would I manage it – if differently, or not.
#ThinkLikeAMillenial
I’m not necessarily like some people “my age”. I have these friends and neighbors and they are around “my age”, but let’s just say that we don’t always align on some pretty major things. It’s like my feet are stuck in the mud of one time frame, and those people are pretty satisfied with moving on, getting into their senior years and all that comes with that. Sometimes we relate on some things, like I said, and this yields some pretty interesting conversations, especially if adult beverages are involved…
It’s hard to be “me”, without letting my feelings about certain things out of the bag, which immediately categorizes me it a lot of people’s minds, and there you go.
What you must know is that I might not fit into the “boomer” mindset completely, maybe a little, but not anywhere near 50%, even. Actually, I just measured. I’m not even in the “Boomer” range on the scale.
While people are “enjoying retirement”, I am doing “business development”. I figure, just go until you are stopped… by something, other than yourself.
If you are interested in seeing where you fit, take this survey and contribute to Pew Research:
How Millennial Are You? You see, I’m pretty much half way to being a Millennial!
Why is this important?
Let’s take the targeted advertising, for instance. People are trying to get you to buy stuff. It may be pure crap. But they look at how you surf the net, and Facebook, and LinkedIn, and every other social media site. They probably monitor your phone calls, for all I know. There is NO PRIVACY. This has been a factoid for many years – likely well over 15.
“They” may look at your chronological age and assess, “this person needs to be looking at bathtubs with doors, or those seat things that move you up stairs on some sort of pulley mechanism to get you to the top without you having to climb, or catheters, or comfortable shoes, or knee braces, or” You get it, right?
Every time one of these ads pops up onto my radar, I’m thinking, “Really?” Why me? Well, it’s because of these constantly churning information collecting/analytical info-bots, looking to enable people to sell to the right audience – but they can be wrong – but do they care? Not really. They try to refine based on what you actually do buy vs. what they thought you might buy, and so forth.
If you want to wack them out a bit, when you are “retirement age”, sign up for a Seventeen Magazine subscription, WIRED, some news magazine (take your pick), and one other one that is discordant – it gets “them” confused. It’s the Andy Rooney influence…
Yet there can be advantages.
When I turned 40, my Mom signed me up for AARP. I still like AARP so that I can get the old-people discounts, plus they are lobbying for “us” – and they have a strong voice behind the effort.
My Mom was not by any stretch of the imagination anything but smart. She was an activist of sorts, and spoke her opinion (maybe a bit too much at times). She got a little flaky in her last years on earth, but she was still intellectually top notch. She, too, did not align with people her own age and had many younger friends.
There is an urge that I have, sometimes, walking in stores, or wherever you’re in a crowd, to ask people, whose age I can’t guess, “Can you answer a simple question for me? How old are you?” I think that they’re likely to either to flip me off, or maybe lie, or they just might tell me the truth. If I could correlate this with their picture, even better. But, this is a delusional idea – probably, especially these days, people would give you “that look” (crazy lady alert!)… And just walk off…
Predictable Outcomes?
Just a few years ago, five to be exact, a notice went out to those attending my high-school reunion: “Those who need assistance to walk upstairs, please let us know such that we can get assistance for moving you in and out of the building, when you arrive and depart.” Whoa. These are people that would not even be 60 yet. Geeze-Louise.
And then, I thought about the prior 10-year reunion, and why they sent the message about disabilities out makes sense. There was an interesting picture taken of the members of our class who attended. A large percentage were in the extremely obese range of weight. Yeah, I imagine that their joints are not holding up so well by now.
So, I get on my treadmill, and tread. Every day, if possible – or do something else to “feed the Fitbit”… I don’t fight with it , I know that this has to happen. I get out and “wog” on the trails, weather permitting, and I do what I can to stay as healthy as I can, because, God only knows, they sock it to the old people who get sick and take away all of their money, even their homes and such – but that is quite another story… they actually will do that to anybody, regardless of age.
When I am facing questions related to my age:
Q: What do I do about things like fashion?
A: Go comfy. If it hurts, don’t wear it. This goes for clothes and shoes. Absolutely NO stilettos. Broken arches and ankles do not serve anyone very well.
Q: Glasses, what frames do I choose? You see, I kind of feel like people prejudge me because of my glasses frames, and the thickness of the lenses, when I know full well that there are people who have worn thick lenses since they were in grade-school – so, why prejudge me for this? It’s silly.
A: I wear those that enable me to see the best. If there are big fat frames around my view, it is limiting my view. Enough said.
Q: What about my hair?
A: No, I am NOT going to get that short haircut again that makes me look like any other middle-aged, stodgy aging woman that wears pantsuits with elastic waistbands made of polyester or rayon mu-mu’s, for that matter. We start losing our curves and become “Weebles” (thank you Hasbro).
TMI – Information – Dis-information – Re-Digested Opinions
Information that looks like one thing that is actually another thing – appearance is not always reality. Go with your gut.
OK, when I really think about this and it makes me a bit dizzy, I have to step back to a book called Gut that was written in 2006, by Karen Salamansohn, about using your intuition, that I purchased back then – after my first Myers-Briggs scoring. My score was very high “N” – in fact it is within my four letter MB descriptor. This score, subsequently, has been validated over and over by other tests that measure this. I do have strong intuition. Measured. Felt.
I have to listen to my gut, as imperfect as it is, as not listening to it has put me in a bad place more than once – you live, you learn. If there is something not quite right sometimes, and it drives me crazy until I solve it. That’s how “intuitive life” is.
At any rate, I am still observing the culture – every day. There is so much information, and with the way that I think and with my strong intuition, I can only conclude that taking the high ground is the safest way to keep from drowning. It seems to work at a number of levels right now…
