The Biggest Con

The promise of having it all is the biggest con of all.

From an early point in my childhood, teachers and adult figures all around praised my sassy, intelligent and oftentimes loud-mouthed self; these figures encouraged me to live up to my potential, find something to be passionate about and exploit that passion. They told me that if I jumped through certain hoops I could "make it;" I could have it all (whatever that means).

Here I am, after jumping through several hoops, years of successful school, higher education, and with several diplomas and work experience under my belt with a sour aftertaste in my mouth. Those promises? Yeah, they're a little bit like artificial sweetener. Though my life is certainly not horrible, I am far away from having it all (unless having it all means having ten dollars leftover from my paycheck on a monthly basis after I pay for gas, insurance, car, cell-phone, rent, student loans, and credit cards).

I guess it could be worse, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be better. The problem, ladies and gentlemen, is that having it all is the biggest con we have dreamed up for ourselves. We keep working hard, studying late at night, and neglecting ourselves to the point of exhaustion for a shot at having it all.

Then, those same adults who encouraged me to jump through hoops keep dreaming up new hoops I have to jump through in order to attain some imaginary degree of success. It's the millennial conundrum, the rules keep changing, the older generations call us lazy and entitled (no matter how hard we work), and we keep getting more and more unemployable because we're "lazy and entitled" as a generation.

With student debt rising to an all-time high and people continuing to return to college for a shot at a better future, I keep wondering when the hoops are going to be over and done with. I can't afford to work an internship when I have to work two jobs in order to make ends meet. I guess I could forgo sleep altogether, but I imagine that would impact my productivity and focus. Just a thought.

I sit here typing this and wonder how many people are going through a similar scenario. I would wager a lot of us are, no matter our generation. So having it all? We'd be better off understanding that it's not what we thought it would look like. In fact, it's the biggest con of all.