‘Be easy. Take your time. You are coming home. To yourself’- Nayyirah Waheed
In recent times and with current events, there is a constant need to adapt and survive in the “new normal”. An unnerving race to succeed in various forms; the need to acquire a new skill, new course, job, business, relationships and life in general. Will a new skill alone help us combat these challenging times or do we need to dig deeper?
Who fared better in COVID? Gen X, Gen Y or Gen Z?
For better understanding; Gen X born between 1965 and 1979/80, Gen Y or Millenials born between 1981 and 1994/6 and Gen Z born between 1997 and 2012/15.
An article from Indeed.com (2020) states that Gen X grew up with minimal adult supervision and thus learned the value of independence and work-life balance. However, Gen Y was parented in such a way that they have had difficulty with problem solving, failure, accepting and learning from mistakes, and having realistic expectations. This led to decreased accountability, responsibility, and independence (J. Hunt and J. Tucciarone, 2011). K. Parker and R. Igeilnik (2020) stated that Gen Z are digital natives who have had little to no memory of the world as it existed before smartphones. Unlike millennials or GenY who witnessed the great recession Gen Z were ideally in line to inherit a strong economy with record low employment. Unfortunately, with COVID the fresh graduates were left with an uncertain future. This was their first ever encounter with an unfathomable event.
A study by British Columbia university (2020) stated that Gen X was coping the best out of all the Gen Y and Gen Z. One of the factors was that majority of the Gen X had limited financial liabilities or dependents to look after. Gen Y and Gen Z on the other hand were the worst hit as they had personal and professional stress and conflicts. Also, with age came experience and another study by Patrick Klabier from British Columbia University stated that Gen X was better at dealing with stress and adapted to change better.
Personality traits to instill
As a millennial myself, I have had similar thoughts as to how I am losing out on opportunities and blamed the situation. It didn’t occur to me that if I close my eyes to the problem it doesn’t go away. We need to tackle life head on.
Being positive is key but Grit is what we need to instill. Angela Duckworth (Author of The Grit) mentions, ‘it’s never too late to develop grit, or gritty qualities like self-control, tenacity, and stamina, because people never stop developing.’
Can February March? No but April May!
Bibliography
Grace Birnstengel, Next Avenue. (2020). In a COVID-19 world, which generation is coping best? Available: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/in-a-covid-19-world-which-generation-is-coping-best.
Jodie Eckleberry-Hunt and Jennifer Tucciarone. (2011). The Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching “Generation Y”. The Journal of Graduate Medical Education. 3 (4), 458–461.
Kim Parker AND Ruth Igielnik. (2020). On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know About Gen Z So Far.Available: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/.
The Killers official website (2008). www.thekillersmusic.com