$pent Millennial

Dear Reader, 

I used to be young. 

I saw that there is a challenge going around on social media. Something about comparing 2026 to 2016. 

When I looked into it, I saw something about the nostalgia of it all, a call back to a “simpler” time. 

I have been trying to reconcile that with my own life right now. So far 2026 has felt rather aimless. 

Granted, we are only just one month in. But still. 

Between the weather, the happenings in this country, and the larger sense of heaviness and – ending, the year has felt bleak. 

And I am tired. 

I am sure recovering from a flu or whatever other illness I caught last week isn’t helping the situation, but even before that I was tired and aimless. 

So, in this fatigued aimlessness I find myself looking back to 2016 to see if I might be able to call on this social media trend as a last resort, a way to pull myself back. Hoping that maybe in the version of me a decade fresher, a decade less worn, a decade younger I might find something. 

Something to cling to. 

So here we go.

In 2016 I graduated from college. I graduated early, finishing my final quarter from home in Wisconsin with just one virtual class to complete. The fall and winter prior I had stuck it out in Chicago. Out of housing funds I couch surfed with friends, living out of my suitcase. 

It didn’t matter much. I was barely “home” anyway. Between work, volunteering, my internship, and classes I was always on the go. I would leave my friend’s couch before the sun came up and wouldn’t return back until long after it had set. I was young. I was living. 

Looking back, that winter of 2016 started with a similar aimlessness as I find myself in now. 

Back in Wisconsin, finishing my degree my time was rather unstructured and empty. 

I dabbled in retail work. Stocking shelves at Staples, I would recall the threatening anti-union videos they drilled during my “training” week. Images of being approached mob-style in the parking lot by union reps as I stocked post-its and manilla folders for people with “real” jobs. 

Not that there is anything wrong or not “real” about retail work. It just wasn’t what I had spent nearly 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to do. 

Technically, I was “ahead” of schedule. Most from my “class” wouldn’t be graduating until June, and I was already done. In a few months, they would all be navigating the hiring landscape same as me. But at the moment, I didn’t feel ahead. I just felt lost. 

Soon enough I was accepted to Americorps for a position with Habitat for Humanity. Then, another acceptance into Teach for America. Things were looking up. 

I thanked Staples for my time there as I skipped out the door. 

While the Americorps position with Habitat for Humanity would have kept me local, I chose to go with Teach for America and move all the way to the Mississippi Delta for what would be the adventure of a lifetime. 

And from there, I was off. No longer aimless, lost, or bleak my future was terrifying, exciting, and filled with meaning and purpose. 

As I look back, I can’t help but wonder if maybe there is some cosmic connection between these decades. 

In 2016 I moved impulsively, worked intentionally, driven by ideals and the belief that what I did (no matter how seemingly small) could plant seeds and send ripples out into the world to build a future that could be (if just) a bit better. 

In 2016 I cried over politics. I screamed into voids about Trump and hate and injustice. 

And then, with tears stained on my cheek and grief caught in my throat, I got to work. 

Now, as this year pummels at us each day heavier and more violent than the next, I know that 2026 me needs to dig deep to pull out that strength and hope 2016 me wore. 

And yet, in 2016 I was young. Now, I am tired. 

I just keep thinking of how young that hope-filled, naive little idiot version of me was. Of course I had energy and hope and spirit. 

I know that 32 is not actually that old. But so much has happened in the past 10 years. Personally, professionally, nationally, globally. 

How do I package all that experience and knowing into a toolkit when it weighs on me like baggage? 

I don’t know that I have an answer for this. Yet. 

For now, I am just sitting in it. Reaching back to connect to and ask for support from 2016 me. Because from what I remember, she had enough hope, energy, and want-to to spare. 

As always, thank you for joining me this week as I sit in this heaviness. 

Until next week – take care and be good to yourself, 

Everett