Analyze This
I may be
guilty of Old Fogyism, but I just have to comment.
Are there
any millennials listening?
Probably
not.
Here is the thing, I’m watching the latest episode of “Married at First Sight” (so you know this will be an intellectual opinion) and I am amazed by how much these millennials over analyze EVERYTHING!
“He said
such and such, that must mean he isn’t happy.”
No, it just means such and such; stop reading something into EVERYTHING!
Everything someone says does not have some deeper meaning.
Millennials often have choices for almost everything they do, and apparently these choices all might have major consequences.
I tell you
it must be exhausting when you think every decision you make from where you eat
to what book you read might affect you in some way for the rest of your
life. Every gosh dang decision these
people make is considered to be possibly life altering.
OK, where
you live, what you do to earn a living, how many children might you have, these
deserve thought and attention, but even these major events should not leave you
paralyzed with fear and indecision.
Yeah, back
in the day you lived where you had to live, to work at a job you had to do, and
there was often no choice either way. You had children if you had sex because there
were no sure-fire methods to prevent them.
Choice in having children was hormone driven.
Back in the day, (sure sign of old fogyism) it was
difficult not having choices, yet in some ways it was liberating. No need to ponder and worry, you did what you
did and it was what it was.
Choices are
great until you start to over analyze every choice and worry before and after
every decision.
I wonder if
a millennial could even play a game like golf.
“Should I
try and hit the ball to the left and avoid the sand trap, or aim right and hope
I don’t put it in the woods? I could aim
straight but if it goes too far, I might find the lake.”
“Dude,
you going to hit or not?”
“Yes, but
this is a tough decision, it might make or ruin my whole day, and if I ruin my
day I will be in a bad mood, if I am in a bad mood my wife will notice and
think it is something she did. If my
wife thinks it is something she did, it will ruin her day and she will start a
fight about it. She won’t believe my
mood is over a golf game and will assume I am cheating on her. If she thinks I am cheating we will get a divorce. If I get a divorce, I will lose most of my friends,
go into deep depression get fired from my job, and my life will be ruined!”
“You
could always take a Mulligan.” (Golf expression
for a do over).
No decision is
often worse than a bad decision. Certainly,
over analyzing every decision and worrying even after the fact is not
productive. It may be why therapists are
so busy these days.
Millennials
need to learn that life will sometimes give you a mulligan and you have to just swing the damn
club!
i think some years ago man's ago was smaller than him and rethink or thinking over his decisions belonged only to himself .he mostly did not care what other will say about him .now things are different .i see people have almost totally discarded their own true selves .they have become pretending puppets .most of their decision and their worries about decision are people concerned not for their own satisfaction .
ReplyDeletekeeping mind present and trying to make best decision is good but once it's done thinking over it is only loss of time and energy .while you run ,looking back can make you fall so keeping eyes what is present before eyes is right thing to do
There are so many choices these days it is difficult to make the right decision. I analyse every decision I make in case it affects the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteFor example. I can never decide whether to buy crunchy peanut butter or smooth. I stand there for ages, blocking the supermarket aisle with my trolley, before making this momentous decision.
The manager has now decided to make the decision for me. Whenever I enter the supermarket he puts a jar of PB in my trolley whether I want one or not. Is it better to buy ginger marmalade instead of PB this week?
God bless.
And another thing I could tell you about my difficulties in making a decisions.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I was in my twenties, single, travelling on a long bus journey to look for work as a graffiti artist. There sitting on the bus, only a few seats away, was this most beautiful young woman I had ever seen. She was about my age. Well dressed, elegant and really sophisticated. She must have been a lawyer, accountant or something really important. I could tell by her demeanour, style, and sheer elegance.
I wondered if we could ever be friends. I could not pluck the courage to start a conversation. How does one start in a situation like this? A smile? Mention the weather? What a glorious day it is? What do I say?
I sat there, mesmerised by this apparition of beauty yet too stunned and scared to say anything. The fear of rejection.
I just continued to eat pickled onions from the jar I was holding. I just like the combination of the sharpness of the onions and the acidity of the vinegar.
She looked at me and said nothing. She got off at the next stop.
I always wonder what might have been had I offered her a pickled onion!!!
What do you advise, JoeH?
God bless.
Best you did nothing Victor, you probably would have offered her a "prickled fun-one" and been slapped hard in the face.
DeleteNot sure it’s a millennial thing? I have friends who overanalyze the crap out of single purchases of clothing. I don’t get it.
ReplyDeleteI have found with certain millennials I know that they can plan (analyze?) all day long but then they have trouble putting that plan (analyzing?) into action.
ReplyDeletebetty
Phew, makes me glad most of my interactions with millennials is pretty brief. Poor babies,they must think we are rudderless.
ReplyDeleteThey read too much into the idea that every decision means you aren't making a different one, and "what might have happened if" could have taken you elsewhere. You make the best decision you can, smile and say you did your best, and move on.
ReplyDeleteMy son is on the cusp of Millennial/Gen Z, born in 1998. He will spend an hour justifying why NOT to do something logical that I suggest, rather that just taking 5 minutes to do it.
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot what I was going to write after reading Val's comment. So true. The numbers of hours spent explaining why someone shouldn't have to do something, when in that time they could have done that five minute job and several others besides. I have an ex who over analyses to the point he gets nothing done.
ReplyDeleteI think this over analysis is encouraged by the director because it is much like the conversations one hears in the soap operas. It fills time and makes the event less difficult to direct.
ReplyDeleteOld codgers don't worry about Millennials. If their parents have done their job, their offspring are self sufficient, monetarily astute and know the value of family, land, residential and commerical holdings. I often tell them "under everything is the land".
ReplyDeleteWhat will become of the generation?
ReplyDelete