Life skills - Information era and Yet a Generation in DISTRESS

As a mom of a 25-year-old and a 15-year-old, I have had a deep insight of seeing first hand how numerous young people struggle over the years, facing different experiences and obstacles as they try and find their space in this ever-complicated and changing world.

When referring to the young people I am referring to the so-called millennials. As I am trying to navigate through my own life's obstacles and pitfalls I am more and more aware of the deeper need out there for so many struggling young people.  The Youngsters or Millennials have been born into the most connected period in history yet they are the most disconnected and lost a generation of all time.

I have watched them struggle and battle through various day to day basic skills as well as complicated situations, most of which we take for granted and expect them to somehow know automatically how to handle or that they somehow should have learned these basic skills through school or parenting.

Yes, the Young people of today do have a very entitled outlook on life but it is not entirely their fault and begs the question why, Why are they so entitled?

As parents, we assume that we did teach them the basic skills to the best of our ability but clearly they did not take notice of these lessons we taught. Cleary when life skills where being taught at school they were either not in class or somehow missed the lessons altogether. Either way, they are not aware of the basic life skills every young person should know.

In fact, I don't feel it is entirely anybody's fault but more a case of a combination of influences and factors. Parents and schools have done the best they could with what they had and wanted to give to the kids the best possible start in life. They tried to give them a sense of a good self-image and self-esteem. Self Esteem in itself became such fundamental requirement that we seemed to have gone to extremes not to expose them to negativity or disappointment and completely to a large degree cocoon them from learning how to deal with disappointments. Sadly it still continues to be the way to raise kids even after we have seen the negative impact it has had on this generation.

As an example we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so we have medals of participation, etc. (I know I am guilty of wanting my little angels to get medals even when they did not perform so great and never wanted to see their hearts broken). Which makes actual working for an achievement null and void, no matter how good or bad you do you are a winner, right? What message does this send? Those that do work hard feel "well what is the point if we all get rewarded" and to those that don't work hard to achieve "well no point in wasting my time to work hard I will be rewarded anyway". 

When they leave school, it all comes crashing down when they enter the big cruel world. People don't care much for your feelings out there and there are no medals for participation. Disappointments are around every corner, you have to be resilient and tough to navigate these difficulties. There you have to outperform or be better than the person next to you. You will be judged by appearance, performance and first impressions. You have to work harder to reach goals and be noticed, you get nothing for coming in last.

Now you end up with a generation that has all sorts of pressure on them, their color, their first impression, their performance, their abilities, their attitudes, their hygiene, their communication skills, all this and they are lost. They don't have the tools to deal with it as it was never necessary before and they were not exposed to it. They never gained much practice or experiences from navigating criticism and they are completely out of their depth and lost.

Some do manage to somehow find their way through this intense maze and pressure and make lives for themselves through hard work and trial and error, but others just crumble under it. Those that crumble end up depressed and with low to no self-esteem and no drive. In some cases, they end up completely off track. All goals, hopes, and dreams shattered as they feel completely useless, hopeless and a great disappointment to themselves. They start self-medicating with drugs and alcohol just to try and cope and for a while not to feel. So they downward spiral further and further out of control.

My dream is to help young people with these life skills that they themselves are not even aware of what they lack. My dream is to awaken the passion in these young people. To Motivate and practically assist them in finding their way. I want them to excel in life and have a purpose to work towards, to have hopes and dreams. I want to coach youngsters in the basics of how to interview for a job well, how to put together an impressive CV, what is personal hygiene, body language skills, how to conduct yourself when entering a room, how to shake hands and make good and lasting impressions. 

They have a very limited understanding of relationships or how to connect to people on a deeper level. They do not understand communication, verbal and non-verbal. How body language works. They do not even know who they are or what their aspirations in life are.

I want to help them to find themselves and find their place in the world and society. I want them to realize the potential they have for success. I want them to believe in themselves and the uniqueness every single one of them brings to the world. The creativity and innovation that is within them. 

I want them to believe in themselves and the uniqueness every single one of them brings to the world. 

My dream is to help young people with these life skills that they themselves are not even aware of what they lack. My dream is to awaken the passion in these young people. To Motivate and practically assist them in finding their way.

I want them to excel in life and have a purpose to work towards, to have hopes and dreams.

Michelle von Blerk