Find Yourself Amidst the Noise of Our Society

Be this. Do that. Go here. Look like her. You should have gone to school for that. As young adults, it is becoming increasingly hard to find yourself amidst the noise of our society. For example, when our parents were our age, they didn't have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or any of the multitude of social media platforms we have now. They didn't have a constant "greatest moments" highlight reel of everyone they ever met bombarding them day in and day out. The only way people knew if they bought a house, got promoted, or were having a baby was if they told them in person, or actually called them on the phone. (*gasp* they had to CALL someone to speak to them! What did they do with their thumbs all day, if not text and scroll through social media?!) I feel like it was much easier then to figure out what you like to do, who you are, and to be proud of your own accomplishments because you weren't being poked in the eyes by everyone else's "better-ness."I am having the hardest time actually figuring out who I am. It sounds unbelievably stupid to say that. I know of a few things I like to do, I have a job, I have a new hubby, new house, new car, new city, etc, but none of those things define me. I constantly see people getting promotions, pregnancy announcements, new babies, bigger nicer houses, amazing travel pictures, incredible jobs and it all just makes me want to do more. Be more. Prove to myself that I could do or have those things too. And then the guilt washes over me as I tell myself over and over to just be happy with what I have. To realize that those things are just possessions we have and events that happen TO us. They do not define those people either. And then I think. Who really are they? Travelers? Dreamers? Do-gooders? Do any of us know who we are? Is it naive to think most people do? Is it wrong to actually want to be better than you were yesterday?Before you say it, I have tried to stay away from social media. Do you know how hard that is? Its almost the only way I can stay in touch with people anymore. See what they're up to, and feel somewhat a part of their lives. You have to make yourself a place and sit at their imaginary table with them, or you literally do not exist. And that is so sad, to me. To have to rip their attention away from a screen in order for them to remember you are still there. I'm also scared for the generation that came after mine. They never knew a time without social media. How will they cope when they are our age? Will they be on whatever futuristic device is implanted in their brains and eyes, transcribing their thoughts onto the electronic walls of their bedrooms asking these same questions?  I hope there are a multitude of therapists equipped to handle those issues-for everyones sakes.My generation has all those things that the one before did not. The media is telling men to have buff, tanned bods, and chiseled jaws, while us ladies don't even know where to start. Big butts are in one year, then big lips the next. I do feel like we are moving towards a more accepting era, but that might take a while to fully arrive. So, while we try to drown out the self-improvement mantras, and the weight loss schemes, and the *earn $6 mil in 45 sec!* crap, we are left searching through highlights, and it starts to weigh on our minds. We forget that no one shares the dirt of their lives, because DUH, who is going go "like" that, plus, it would destroy the perfect color scheme of our Insta Feed. We feel that rush of validation when the stats go into the double digits. But, in 60 years, our grandchildren won't want to hear about how many likes our statuses got, or how many hearts our Insta pics got, or how many retweets that one *PERFECT* tweet got back in 2017. They'll want to hear about what we DID. They'll want to know who we ARE. They'll ask about how we changed their world for the better instead of sitting on our butts blaming our children for everything thats wrong in the world.Who am I? I'm starting to think that I am on the path to figuring it out. Turns out, I don't think I am just one thing. I am a stubborn, imaginative, path-paving creator. I am a writer, a lover of language and reading. I am shamelessly obsessed with dogs. I am a DIY-er. I am prepared to change the world. Or at least one small part of it. I am a shoulder to cry on, and then your biggest cheerleader. I was made to lift people up, and propel them to greatness. I am a self-proclaimed life coach. I am a millennial, and I am here to help. I know this was a long one, but thanks for sticking through to the end! Life is weird, and so am I, but I appreciate every single one of you who reads this rambling pile of heartfelt self-exploration. I am serious when I say that I am here to help. Use my contact form in the tab above, and I will reply to every single one. *Disclaimer: I am not a professional, and nothing I say is meant to be taken as anything other than friendly advice*.You are special. Never forget it. Please feel free to save this downloadable (or others) I created, as a lock screen, Instagram post, or anything you will see every day. Use it to remind yourself there is, and will only ever be, one of you. Love, Jess