MILLENNIALS: Find Your Dinosaur And Don’t Lose It!
Maybe it’s because I’m still a student. Maybe it’s because I grew up saying “when I grow up I’m gonna be” never actually picturing the reality of my generation being ‘the future’ actually being right now. Maybe it’s because I figured most people would eventually become, or aspire to become, suits…
Recently I looked around and couldn’t help but be in awe of how inspiring and brave the people of my generation are. I don’t know why “millennials” are getting so much crap lately. As a law student hearing about “going corporate” and “big law” and going where the money is all the time, it’s easy to lose your idealism… become “the man.” Hide your tattoos, be professional, wear a suit, etc. Honestly I’ve figured, “Hey, I guess this is just what becoming an adult is.”
Nope! It’s not. This just in: you don’t have to lose your dinosaur!
One of my best friends is an aspiring fashion designer based out of Brooklyn. He’s been doing his own thing for years now. Completely self-sufficient, hustling from different jobs to support his fashion line. He dropped out of a good college and then started his own business at 19 years old.
I went to business meetings with him in Shanghai and Hong Kong when we were backpacking China and there we were, him making his dreams happen across the globe, not taking no for an answer, shoving his way into meetings with people because he knew what he wanted and he was not going to give up until he got it.
I went on Facebook the other day and saw that this guy I used to know apparently dropped out of college and moved to a ranch out west and became a cowboy. He literally just gave up his life and became a damn cowboy. (COWBOYS EXIST!?!)
My other good friend had a degree and a solid job as an architect and quit because it made her miserable and now she’s pursuing a career as music artist. She’s happier than I’ve ever seen a human being. I used to make fun of my ex for wanting to work in film and currently he’s a camera guy for Toddlers and Tiaras or something. Whatever. It’s something. It’s more than I thought he’d amount to in “the film industry”. Woody Allen didn’t start as a damn film producer.
WHO SAYS MILLENNIALS AREN’T THE SHIT. Because seriously, step to me.
I envy these people so much because they are brave! The people of my generation are SO brave! Having literally less than zero job security in a shitty damn economy but these 20-somethings are doing what they are doing because it’s their dream, it’s their passion, it’s what they want to be doing. Not because it’s a paycheck. Not with the help of their parents. Not with anyone’s help except their own pure volition. Anyone that says millennials act entitled: you clearly don’t know many millennials.
I just want to say thank you to everyone pursuing their dreams right now. Because you give me the courage to “be brave” everyday. Not to sell myself short, not to lose my dinosaur. I can be a lawyer but also write for Thought Catalog because why not. I don’t have to lose my dinosaur.
Write if you want to write! Sing if you want to sing! Act if you want to act! Please, do yourself a favor, if you don’t want to go to college don’t. If you don’t want to do something just because your parents tell you to, then don’t do it. Whatever you are doing you will be doing it for most of your life until you die, so as corny as it sounds, follow your heart and don’t betray yourself.
A paycheck is cool but you can get paychecks and still simultaneously pursue your passion. Find your dinosaur and do not lose it. Do not let others pressure you into killing it. A big paycheck, top of the class, a college degree, sure it may seem cool but it won’t make you necessarily make you happy. Be a friggin’ garbage man. Be a firefighter. Be a cop. Live in the McKibbin lofts and possibly get bedbugs while you work on a screenplay if that is what you want to do!
We only have one chance at this life thing, take advantage of it. BE BRAVE. Whatever it is you choose to do, just be brave! Live every day as if you will look back and say “Damn, I did my 20s right” not “man, I should’ve just recorded that song” or “I should’ve told that person I loved them”. You only have this one chance to be who you are right now, so be it, fully, without hesitation.
No one regrets doing things, they regret not doing things. So do them, right now. 
