my gen Z opinion on millennials changed after this

hey zesties! 🍋 I recently signed up for a community talk which aimed to allow Gen Zs and Millennials to understand each other better. for context I am turning 20 this year (gen z)! *also i am aware that everyone is different, and not all millennials are the same. i'm reflecting on the stories and lessons i gained from my conversations, there's no harm!!

❓the setting:

👉🏻 they put us into a small group of 5 people aged 18-40? i was grouped with a good mix of ages and genders. there were prompts to help us make conversation and we took turns answering!

🌫️🌫️🌫️ some of the stories i heard: (will change some of the details but make the gist of it the same to protect the people involved!)

🟢1. There was a millennial boss who went to the talk in hopes to understand his younger interns better 🥹

👉🏻 i was damnnn touched when i heard him talk about his interns omg 😭❤️‍🩹 the fact that he really was trying to do his best 😭 there's a lot of things behind the scenes that we don't know about, so don't be too quick to form impressions on someone who seem like they wouldn't understand you! At first he seemed quite traditional and rigid, but he was really open to different perspectives and was willing to be better. 🫠

🟢2. A millennial, K, opened up about how their boss was smoking at work and sits near their desk. K felt like they were genuinely feeling quite sick after awhile of breathing in second-hand smoke but was very hesitant on voicing it out!!! 🥹🥹

👉🏻 I usually don't find problems voicing out about things i feel are uncomfortable in my workplace. maybe it's just because i'm just not that scared or feel like i know i'm in the right for voicing these things, right...?!!!? but in the situation, K seemed so lost on how to talk about the situation. you would think that because they've been working for so long, they would be more comfortable and less scared to voice up... i was wrong 😭 i felt like millennials find it so difficult to talk about their problems and i'm not sure why... was it the lack of social media? or just their culture before it was reshaped by the newer gen?

🟢3. all of them said that they still had their guard up when opening up about their problems. (they were still being very careful about the things they voice out, and they admired how gen Zs can just say anything unfiltered...)

👉🏻 (⚠️SENSITIVE TOPIC, TW sexuality and s*icide⚠️) they were all going through problems. one of their parents were in denial of them being gay, another one was living with their parent who's relative k*lled themselves... and all of them had no idea how to tackle the situation, they felt lonely and had no outlet to voice out their struggles to. Even if they have friends, they put up a front and find it hard to be vulnerable and trust. 🥲🥹💔

🫀 TLDR: have empathy.

before the talk, i saw myself as quite empathetic already ngl... but i heard about struggles they face first-hand, people in different occupations facing completely different problems all trying their best ✊🏻 i'll try to be more patient & understanding towards them and try my best to be as kind as i can entering the working-world BUT REMEMBER TO ALWAYS PUT YOURSLEF FIRST people don't deserve your patience and kindness if they are terrible towards you and i will stand by that LOL 😍🫱🏻‍🫲🏼🌱

#BeReal #RealTalk #depressionawareness

#storytime