For years, the narrative around Millennial burnout has been framed as a personal failing. A sheer lack of “grit” or a penchant for latte’s and avocado toast over work ethic. Looking deeper at the architecture of the world we inhabit, a much more sinister diagnosis emerges. Our burnout isn’t just work fatigue. It’s exhaustion from the extreme mental gymnastics we need to square the competing lies our boomer parents raised us by.
We were told by our boomer parents to “follow our dreams” and “be whatever we want.” These same parents voted the last fifty years to systematically dismantle the infrastructure that would’ve made those dreams possible. We were launched into a “Volatility Economy” using a “Linear Economy” map. We followed their advice. We got the degrees, we collected boundless “useless knowledge,” and we ground ourselves down for the corporate machine. Now, we’re left with the bill for a party we didn’t even want to attend. As the boomers finally start to checkout we’ve become the custodians of the aftermath.
Volatility Economy
An economy or market is volatile when its key indicators experience frequent changes. Indicators like GDP, inflation, or stock prices see large unpredictable swings signaling high risk, uncertainty, and instability. This is often driven by external shocks, like geopolitics or pandemics, policy changes, or rapid technological shifts like AI. These factors impact business investment and consumer confidence. Volatility measures price variation over time, typically using standard deviation, with high volatility indicating greater risk and bigger price movements.
Linear Economy
A linear economy is a traditional “take-make-dispose” system where raw materials are extracted, turned into products, used briefly, and then thrown away as waste, creating a one-way flow that depletes resources and generates pollution
The Biff Tannen Paradigm: Wealth via the Almanac
You need to view the Boomer cohort through the lens of the rich bully in every 1980’s movie. This perspective helps to understand the current generational friction. Specifically, the Biff Tannen/ Donald Trump archetype. Biff’s success wasn’t meritocratic; it was the result of cheating. He had the “sports almanac”. We’ll view this as an unprecedented, post-war economic boom. A past where the US had no industrial competitors as we were the only nation untouched from bombing. This allowed a single income to buy an unimaginably comfortable life.
This was the era of the “Letter Jacket” philosophy. An unspoken philosophy that the world would reward you if you just played by the rules of the varsity team. Ultimately receiving a trophy you’d wear for the rest of your life. It was an “I made it” mindset built on a foundation of pure luck, but rebranded as moral superiority. They grew up in a brand new world custom-built for them. Creating a collective psyche of 90 million narcissists who believe the world is a reflection of their own whims. Now that the “almanac” has run out of pages, they are terrified. They see a world that no longer needs their rigid, Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) brand of management. They have minimal emotional intelligence so they are reacting with “scorched earth” defiance. They aren’t passing the torch. They’re using it to light the curtains on their way out. Repeatedly voting for volatility and global instability as a desperate cry to stay relevant.
The Jealousy of the Authentic Self
This explains the irrational hostility toward the LGBTQIA+ community and any form of radical self-expression. It is the “thou dost protest too much” syndrome on a massive scale. A Millennial or a Gen Z kid can find happiness simply by being their authentic self. They do not need the corner office, the rigid social hierarchy, or the suppressed identity. Suggesting that the Boomers sixty (plus) years of self-imposed chains were always optional.
They spent their lives suppressing every “unprofitable” impulse to satisfy the machine. Seeing us reject that machine while still maintaining our humanity is a narcissistic injury they cannot process. So, they call us “lazy” or “woke.” All to avoid looking in the mirror and realizing they traded their souls for a suburban house. A house that’s now over-leveraged and because of their voting record, no one can afford to buy.
The “Adult in the Room” Syndrome
The result is that Millennial’s have become the “Adults in the Room” on a civilizational scale. We are the ones who stayed sober at the party to make sure everyone gets home safely. Despite not wanting to go to the party in the first place.
There is a profound mental anguish in this nonconsensual responsibility. The sheer volume of unpaid emotional labor we’ve been forced to live with is simply galling. We haven’t just been tasked with fixing the ruined physical infrastructure. No, we’re going to have to put the second half of our lives on an indefinite hold. Just to survive the trauma and inaction they’re leaving behind.
Having spent a lifetime refusing to self reflect, as they see internal work as “woke head-shrinker stuff”. They’ve managed to take the unresolved trauma of their own parents’ rigid obsessions and simply hand the bill to us. In doing so boomers project their insecurities onto us, labeling us “lazy” while they refuse to retire. This creates a grotesque stagnation where if they do “retire” its not permanent. Often returning to work because they are bored. They spent a lifetime dedicated to work. As a result, they have no internal world, like self interests or hobbies, to retreat to. Meanwhile, we have to-do lists of hobbies and passions we’ll never have enough life left to finish. We’ll be too busy managing the “legacy” of their inaction.
Turning “Useless Knowledge” into a Survival Kit
But here is the irony: that “useless knowledge” they mocked is now our greatest asset. While they were “Total Consumers,” we have become “Total Integrated Survivalists.” The sheer volume of unprecedented events we’ve lived through. The stresses and traumas that led to this moment have actually been preparing. Its a uniquely bittersweet preparedness of our upbringing.
Our “unprofitable” interests have shifted into a radical collapse-preparation focus. We aren’t just “tinkering”; we are learning to maintain systems. We aren’t just “gardening”; we are ensuring food security. We aren’t just “studying history”. We learned the mechanics of how societies fail so we can build something better out of the scrap metal. Or prevent the process altogether. Other generations received a future with limitless potential. They were blessed by those before them to go forth and do better. Our narcissists parents are handing us a collapsing, dilapidated world. They would rather see it destroyed than allow someone else the “glory” of fixing it.
We are the salvage crew. We are the librarians of the ruins. The custodians of the aftermath. There is a “fate-ish” quality to it. It feels like it was always our destiny. We are the ones who actually know how to fix the plumbing when the house finally floods. We didn’t ask for the keys to a broken kingdom. Yet, we’re the only ones who know where the tools are hidden. We are the generation that will lead out of the ashes. We must lead not because we wanted to. Instead, we lead because we’re the only ones left who know how to do the work.
Ironic, since they told us to get educated or we’d end up a janitorial custodian.
