Permission to Be Our Authentic Selves
Therapy for 2nd Gen Millennials
The Unique Plight of 2nd Gen Millennials
If you were born between 1981-1996, congratulations! You’re a Millennial.
Welcome to being the middle-children of the generations between the 1900’s and the 2000’s.
We know how to speak Boomer, and we paved the way for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We got blamed for everything from killing the diamond industry to crippling the economy to ruining parenthood to eating too much avocado toast to being lazy and self-absorbed.
And if you’re 2nd generation AND from an immigrant family? You had to grow up in a country that was new to your parents, with clashing messaging about diversity and culture mixed in with capitalistic work ethic—plus the repercussions from the attacks on 9/11, the housing crash of 2008, and the dawn of mass school shootings… oh yes, and the rapid escalation of technology from boxy desktops and dial-up Internet to widespread pocket-sized high speed devices and the explosion of social media.
Yeah, it does make sense: we need therapy. And our therapists need to understand exactly how much context we have been living through to get to where we are now.
Millennial Therapy in San Jose
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Acknowledge the context of the foundations of our mental health through childhood
Name the intersections between different parts of our identities and integrate our values from conflicting sides
Release messaging we no longer want to give power over us in our adult lives
Connect to sources of power and energy that are based in sustainable and ethical resources
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Often I see people who feel conflicted between what they were taught by people who love them and also by values we picked up as we absorbed the U.S. culture. Some of us were pushed to assimilate; others of us shamed for abandoning our family's culture; and sometimes, we got the double whammy.
Blending individualist philosophy and the collectivist beliefs from our families can seem impossible. But as I have found in years of work in therapy, each person finds their own beautiful and incredible way to create a cohesive identity that is all their own.
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We can't avoid it. I'm literally writing this on a website that you will likely find with your phone or laptop. In order to create healthy habits that are sustainable, I'm a firm believer that therapy, especially for millennials, must include conversations about our relationship to technology. I've been using a computer since I was 5 years old, and it has impacted me in so many ways - as a therapist, I will validate and honor however complicated your feelings are about technology and learn to live with it with intention and balance.