Change Your Mind. Change Your Life.

Millennials get a bad wrap. That generation born between 1982–2000. By our parents, the older generations, and our co-workers. They consider us to be flaky, uncommitted, and unable to stay long at our jobs. And why should we argue that? We are. However, why is this a bad thing?

As life expectancies rise and societal pressures increase the average Millennial will be retiring later than ever. In 2014, the Australian government suggested raising the retirement age from 65 to 70. Nerdwallet claims the average college graduate should expect to retire even later, at age 73, due to educational debt, low starting salaries and lack of savings. However, none of these reports address one of the factors our parents are currently facing, the “sandwich generation”. That period where people are supporting both their children and their aging parents. If our parents do retire at 65 and live until the expected age of 84, they will need 20 years of financial support.

But as we continue to live healthier lives, we will still have an abundance of energy into our senior years. I can’t even tell you the number of late 60s and 70-something year olds I know that participate in daily activities and are as mentally quick today as any 20-something year old. I hope to be able to work well into my 70s. Not out of necessity, but out of passion. I want to be in a career that spurs creativity, contribution, and excitement in me until I finally decide I’m ready to say enough.

And although I currently find passion in writing, I could have said that when I started my sales career, and I would have said that when I was taking finance classes in university.

So let’s go back to that shocking number, retiring beyond 70. If it is you, or your children, or a co-worker, who is currently in their late 20s to early 30s, they will be working for another 40 to 50 years. This person has started their career, he or she may be 10 years into it, and they will still be working more years than any other generation before them.

If our working life will be 50 years, how may people could honestly say their career is one that they will be passionate about the day they chose it? As we live our life, and our experiences shape us, the things we are also passionate about evolve. This is true for our hobbies, preferences, and the people that provide value into our lives. It naturally makes sense what we believe we should do day-in and day-out would also transition. Sometimes ever so slightly, with an accumulation hitting a climax of being time to change.

Since birth, Millennials have been engrossed in fast moving messages and we’re just better adapted to pick up on the nuances of change. We realize quickly that careers are not the same as they used to be, technology is changing the way we do work, and they type of work we do.

So are Millennials really flaky and uncommitted, or are we showing up to a buffet, of constant changing dishes? How does one choose a single item and stay with only that one? For 50 years.

Two years ago I challenged the norm. I regretted never taking a year after university, before starting my career, to travel. I was in my 30s. People in their 30s don’t quit their careers and sell their property to live like a nomad. We are at that age where we are supposed to find a partner, create a family, and continue to work our way up the corporate ladder. I had a glimpse of my life. I knew exactly what it looked like, and I decided to risk it all for the mystery box. I left the life I was comfortable living to live out a dream that so many people thought I would be too old for. I went and traveled the world. I experienced more of the buffet of life.

There were supporters and there were naysayers. And life still went on. I was still able to find a job when I returned, and now had a better story to tell. Later, I decided to completely switch career paths to something that brought me more fulfillment today. And who knows, maybe I will stick to what I am doing, or maybe I will change my mind again. But if I didn’t take a chance, I would have never found this level of happiness.

So feel free to change your mind. Take the risk. Change your life, your career, and the city you call home. There will alway be opportunities to choose the dishes from the family section, the travel section, the savings section, and so on. However, the more you experience life now, the quicker your preferences will change, and the opportunities that life presents you will continue to expand. Chances are you could see predictably 50 years into the future or you could find something so much more.

This post is based on her upcoming speaking event in Sydney scheduled for January 7. Subscribe to her newsletter for information on how to order tickets.

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