Tag: Gen. Y

Fear and self-loathing in Las Vegas

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Why hello there,

Long time no see!

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a splendid holiday! Mine was swell, except I spent most of it abandoning my family due to work obligations (yup, I am owned by the “man” once again, but more on that later).

Now that I’m finally starting to understand the work/life balance game, I’m back in the blogging world!!

I have some awesome news to share with you all, including being published in a prestigious magazine, but that is a different story for a different day. So on with the show!

I’m having the case of nostalgias lately. A.K.A., I’ve been sulking in a corner licking my wounds and moping like a whiny baby because life is unfair.This has been brought on due to the fact that I haven’t had very much downtime and I’m growing increasingly unhappy doing what I’m doing. Fortunately for me, my mom came into town for a couple days to visit and it was definitely much needed.

I’ve always appreciated my parents and have known how lucky I am that they are really awesome. Quite honestly, I prefer spending time with them than most people because they’re fun to be around. While my mom was in town, I got the pampered kid treatment; the dinners, hugs, and words of encouragement, which was exactly what I needed after the on the job drama I’ve had (I swear I’ll talk about it later).

On top of having my mommy in town. My best friend’s little brother, Micah, who’s like my own little bro happened to stop in Vegas and needed a place to crash, so he came to my house. I haven’t seen him since my trip to SD last year, so it was nice to catch up and see how he doing. Even though I only got to see him for an hour, it was really nice just to chat with someone from back home.

This weekend was fun with my mom, but I was super bummed to take her back to the airport. While driving, I felt like a little kid being taken to daycare for the first time. I did not want my mommy to GO! I even accidentally went to the wrong part of the airport. Alas, she is back in Monterey and I’m moping a bit.

I suppose being back with old familiar faces reawakened parts of me that have lain dormant for some time. There was a point in time in the world where I was fearless and took life by the balls! Where that girl is, I’m not entirely sure, but something tells me, she’s going to be resurfacing soon. 😉

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4 Simple Ways to Cut Everyday Expenses

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I’ll admit it, I’m scared of the “B-word”. I’m talking about budget (not what you were thinking, huh?). When it comes to eating out, specialty coffee drinks, and other miscellaneous items, they add up. Many times we think convenience comes with a hefty price tag. It doesn’t always have to work that way. Check out my latest article on MillennialMagazine on 4 Simple Ways to Cut Everyday Expenses. Feel free to share your money saving tips too! Lord knows I need all the help I can get, lol!

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Why Writers are Scared to Share Their Work

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Submitting/sharing written work can be an extremely anxiety filled endeavor for a lot of writers. The moment you share your writing with someone, it feels like you’ve exposed a sacred document out into the world where everyone can judge and critique it. That my friends is a very scary mentality to have and truthfully, it was one that I held onto.

The one thing I’ve been finding out is that many writers are so nervous about sharing their work, that a lot of the time they don’t. Or, they decide not to pitch their ideas because of what an editor might say. I will admit that it’s been refreshing to know that I’m not the only who gets anxious.

What bums me out that there is a lot of stuff that is going unpublished due to the fears a writer may have. In an effort to help out my fellow writers, here are some tips/ideas that I try to remember when it comes to pitching ideas/submitting content.

 

1. Realize That Pitching is Nerve-wracking for Everyone

If submitting content was super easy, I guarantee you that a lot more of it would be happening. Sure it’s natural to get nervous about sending your stuff out into the world. Just be sure to not let the fear stop you from submitting it.

2. Editors are People Too

Believe it or not, editors are human beings. They are not waiting anxiously in their inbox to reject the next pitch from a writer. On the contrary, most editors I’ve worked with are extremely awesome and very helpful. Don’t forget they need your stories so they’ll work with you to make that happen.

3. Separate Yourself From Your Work

Being rejected or being asked to make revisions are a reality of being a writer. I’ll admit that it can wound my pride momentarily. Make sure you remember that the editor is not rejecting you, they are rejecting the article. Trust me, there is a difference. So when you get rejected, it does not mean that you are a terrible writer, it just means the article is not what the editor is looking for.

4. Take Rejection with a Grain of Salt

Your writing can feel like a part of you so it’s natural to feel connected to it. Like I said, your rejection is not a reflection of you. It’s normal to feel discouraged when you’ve experienced rejection. That being said, don’t dwell on it too long. Figure out where you can make the proper adjustments and try again.

5. If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try Try Again

When I first started pitching articles, I was terrible at receiving feedback. It actually made me hesitant to put myself out there again. However, I quickly realized that I can’t work on any projects without first putting myself out there. If you get rejected, keep on pitching. The more you pitch, the easier it becomes and eventually an editor will say yes!

 

So those are my guidelines that help me get over the anxiety hump of pitching articles. What do you do to help yourself spread your work? What was the most challenging pitch you’ve done and how did you overcome it? Or, what is stopping you from getting published? Let me know 🙂

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Are We Waiting to Grow Up?

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I’ve been doing some research on an oh so secret project (I’ll explain myself later, promise) and I have been seeing quite a bit of literature out there “explaining” why Millennials “aren’t growing up” or “things Millennials are refusing to do” and I can’t help but feel insulted. The general consensus of older generations is that we’re: lazy, immature, financially irresponsible children who are shirking the necessary responsibilities of life. I could not disagree more. While no generation in its entirety is perfect, I do believe that Gen. Y has a few things stacked against them.

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It’s true that Gen. Y is holding off on major purchases, but with the average student loan debt at the end of 2013 being $29,400, can you blame us? These numbers were not even on the radar of 30 years ago. Most students today are facing 20 years of repaying student debt whereas our Gen. X counterparts only had a fraction of that debt. Of course, one can argue that we “dug ourselves into this hole”, but I can guarantee you it wasn’t a Millennial who sold the “student loans are a good debt to have because a degree is a solid investment” line. We also have to deal with the reality that workforce is stacked against us.

The days of staying with one job for 30 years are dead and gone.  According to Forbes the average worker stays at each of his/her jobs for 4.4 years. If you ask other generations it’s because we don’t want to stick it out, or we want to be the CEO within the first year. The truth is that most millennials are looking for jobs that can help them manage the unbearably high student loans they have to pay back. The average salary for recent 2013 graduates is $45,327. However, when you put that in context with the $29,400 student loan average and cost of living, it’s not an easy feat. So where are the decent paying jobs? They are still with the same people who applied to them decades before.

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Since the average retirement age jumping up from 57 in 1992 to 62 in 2013, Baby Boomers have not been making enough room for younger generations to fill in. This forces, Gen Y to work any job that comes their way to make ends meet. There are as many as 40% of recent graduates are employed in jobs that do not require degrees. Gen X does not understand this hardship because they have the experience and degrees to go after higher paying jobs.

These are just a few things that millennials are dealing with. I’m not even going to touch the dating scene as that could take some time getting into. With that being said, I fully accept the job market and my student loans. No one held a gun to my head as I signed my master promissory note and I am paying them back. Due to the fact that I (and most millennials too) am being responsible for my debt, certain life goals tend to take a backseat. What grinds my gears about these articles and beliefs held by older generations is that their expectations for us are quite ridiculous.

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The biggest argument against millennials is that we are immature and irresponsible because we aren’t settling down and getting married. So you’re telling me, that on top of trying to establish a decent career and paying back student loans, I’m supposed to be getting married and popping out babies simultaneously? In my opinion that would be the irresponsible thing to do. Why would I join in union with another person facing the same realities as myself while trying to make a family with a bunch of debt and a shaky job market hanging over our heads? Then to add insult to injury put a baby in the mix. Sounds like a great way for a marriage to fail. Yeah, no thanks.

In my opinion millennials that are not trying to rush into more responsibilities are more intelligent than you realize. It’s not that getting to the altar and starting a family are not goals of millennials, it’s just that there are a few things we need to take care of first. So before you go rushing to judgement about how we don’t want to grow up or are killing the real estate market take an honest hard look at what our reality looks like. It’s not 1980 anymore and we’re rolling with the punches as best we can. Don’t worry though, we’ll “grow up” eventually, Millennials do you agree? What are some of the things you have to figure out before you “grow up”?