If you subscribe to Simon Sinek’s view of Millennials (and in most part I do) then if you lift your head up you will see the consequence of this attitude; that I believe can be summarised as ‘victimhood’.
Unfortunately as I look around in many places I see many people who have accepted that what they must do is ‘let the world happen to them’.
When I was a student at Glasgow Dental School in the early 1990’s we did a course on basic psychology and communication (quite advanced for its day I think) Here we were introduced to these two concepts, internal locus of control and external locus of control.
As an example someone with a 100% internal locus of control would believe that if they didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, kept themselves fit and healthy then they would live to be 115. Someone with an external locus of control would be the opposite suggesting that there is nothing that they could do because they would probably be hit by a bus or they would die of cancer.
Clearly the answer to the locus of control problem lies somewhere in the middle, doing as much as you can to protect yourself and stay healthy and happy whilst understanding that stuff happens that is out of your control and you have to deal with this. That second point is perhaps the most important thing that I have written about, the spread of victimhood seems to be insipid but also reaching epidemic levels.
It’s always someone else’s fault.
The lack of resilience that I see in many people and unfortunately closer to me than I would like stresses and upsets me. It’s time to teach our children the value of resilience. At least then that generation will be able to deal with the ups and downs, the disasters and the catastrophes of life that are utterly inevitable.
It’s not unfair that you get cancer, although it might seem exactly like that to the person and families of those who suffer it. It’s not unfair that you lose a loved one. It’s not unfair that your company gets bought out by a corporation. It’s not unfair that you tripped over a stone in the street and fell and broke your teeth.
This stuff happens and it happens to all of us.
The answer to victimhood is not about trying to make things easier, it’s about trying to make us stronger. It’s about showing ourselves and our children that this is what life is like, which is why it’s so important to relish and enjoy the moment right now where the good stuff is happening; where the view is good and still for a little while at least we are safe. As the epidemic of capitalism begins its end game (and who knows what will come next) to survive the turmoil, to survive and thrive in the maelstrom that will almost certainly hit us, resilience will be the only tool that works.
Blog Post Number - 1357
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