Transcription
Millennials didn't just inherit the trauma. We swallowed it. We smiled through it. And then we made it a personality.
We were raised in chaos, but expected to keep it cute, keep it quiet, keep it moving. We were taught to work harder, be better. I would achieve the pain, but never feel it, never question it, never name it.
So, we grew up making jokes about our trauma because if we laughed, we didn't have to cry. If we stayed busy, we didn't have to stay in silence. If we performed, we might finally be loved. We are the overfunctioners, the anxious lovers, the ones who say, "I'm fine" when we're dying inside.
We were never taught how to rest, how to regulate, how to receive. And now we're the generation trying to raise kids with tools we were never given. Trying to build love while still bleeding from abandonment. Trying to set boundaries when we were taught obedience.
We go to therapy, but we still don't know how to ask for help without guilt. We post our healing and still chase validation. And yes, we're aware. But awareness without action becomes a trap. And some of us became everything we swore we'd never be. These men ain't but we're not the innocent bystanders we like to pretend we are.