Don’t Let Your Negativity Outshine Your Greatness

The suggestion that Millennials as a whole are hateful is not only trite, but completely false and unfair. There are quite a few of us who are incredibly positive individuals with an optimistic outlook on everything in front of us.

But, there is an undeniable sense of apathy that has seeped its way into our generation. I’m not quite sure what the cause of this feeling is. Maybe it’s the snarky humor that peppered the punchlines of our favorite cartoons, or maybe it’s the music of our favorite angsty bands. Or maybe it’s the fact that we’ve seen so many bad things happen in the world, although the answers are supposed to be at our fingertips.

Even so, our casual self-deprecation, and increasingly common self-hate is harmful because it blurs the line between when we are kidding, and when we are not.

It’s time for us to stop hating everything, or pretending like we hate everything, including ourselves.

At this age, we are still trying to find out where we fit into our own lives, and how we fit into the lives of others. So it’s perfectly understandable for us to be confused, and a little awkward. We have a tendency to believe that we are the only ones unsure of what we’re doing, but my friends, everything we are feeling is common. We shouldn’t berate ourselves for having the growing pains that come with the time period between our late teens and early twenties. There is no reason for us to think that we should be the objects of our own loathing.

It is okay to not like yourself for a moment, but let’s not make it something that we do all of the time. Let’s not make it something that turns us into the most negative versions of ourselves.

We have to make sure that we don’t let apathy stunt our growth as young human beings. I mean sure, I’d have no sense of humor if I thought the occasional nihilist joke wasn’t funny. But sometimes I find myself actually feeling bad about myself, and instantly thinking disparaging thoughts don’t help. Even more so, it’s almost as if positivity has become the new counter-culture. We only save encouraging words for our best of friends when they absolutely need it, and then there’s none left for ourselves.

But positivity is the thing that will get us through the tough times, and the awful mistakes we are all bound to make. It will allow us to appreciate our imperfect selves, and move on from whatever has gone wrong. Let’s stop hating ourselves: we’ll feel better about everything.