The Two Truths and a Lie of Just Working Harder

It’s hard to pull yourself up by the bootstraps when you’re wearing Chacos. Don’t worry, this blog is not about Gen-Z and their obsession with comfort and fashion. It’s about a new generation of values around ruggedness. Now, I’m not an economist, but I think we’ve all heard our elders talk about when gas used to be a few cents. We’re not there anymore, and the pathway to an older generation's idea of success is no longer on the table for most. We can’t fully inherit the bootstrap method, but I don’t believe that we have to discard it altogether.

Truth 1: Capitalism sucks. But people have notoriously worked hard for generations. Before we had common currencies, we traded items, animals, and labor. We had transactions. Communities had economies and people had to work, barter, and trade to survive. Our time is no different, but now we have a middle man called money, and unfortunately that middle man has a few cousins, but we’re going to stay focused on ourselves instead of…

rushing to blame the billionaires and politicians benefiting from the working classes drive for improvement in their quality of life as they orchestrate the systems and policies keeping the wealthy rich and stripping the poor of their precious time and resources while providing distractions and cultivating divisiveness between them, diffusing the power of the collective by threats associated with non-conformity within the individual…

Where was I? Oh yeah…

Truth 2: People are designed for purposeful work. The people throughout history who we often look up to had jobs: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a preacher, Shakespeare was a poet, mother Theresa was a nun, Gandhi was a lawyer, and Jesus was a carpenter. Now it’s safe to say they were all so much more than those descriptions, but their jobs were a foundation within their community where they could express their passions.

By the way, I was today years old when I learned that Gandhi was a lawyer, so we’re going to keep on that train.

The Lie: Just work harder and you’ll make it. If Gandhi would have just worked harder on his career as a lawyer, we might have never known who he was. I’m sure he was a hard working dude, but we never knew about his work ethic; we learned about his passion. Hard work without passion and purpose, is futile. It leads us nowhere. We see this with the American Dream. Gen Z is being told to hit a moving target. It’s passionless, it's purposeless, it's pointless, and most importantly, it’s not your fault; however, it is our responsibility. The names mentioned above were regular people living in an unjust world. They worked hard, but they fought harder. If you find yourself with a whole lot of fight, but not enough direction, if you feel behind in life, and you’re finding your voice after years of silence, you don’t have to face it alone. Therapy can help. I’m based here in Kansas City, and I’m taking new clients. Let’s start sorting through it at TherapyChris.com or keep following along as we discover how to be human together.