Easing the GenZ Journey into Adulthood
Originally published in The Messenger, an online news source that is no longer active
November 22, 2023
Easing the GenZ Journey into Adulthood
Frank Shushok, Jr.
A study released recently by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education found a sobering 36% of young adults aged 18-25 are struggling with anxiety, and 29% are dealing with depression. The study reveals some likely suspects, including worrying about finances (56%), feeling pressure to achieve (51%), being concerned about the world unraveling (45%), and feeling like they don’t matter to others (44%).
The number one driver of poor mental health for young adults? Lack of meaning, purpose, and direction in their lives, reported by 58% of respondents.
When we understand our lives as contributing to something beyond ourselves, every moment can feel full of possibility. Whether it is finding meaning in the mission of our work, raising a family, being a friend, or caring for a neighborhood community, church or nonprofit organization, life is rich when we see our lives intersecting with the hopes, joys and pains of others. Perhaps this is what theologian Frederick Buechner meant by “a calling” — when one’s “deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
I’d say it like this: Purpose is food for the soul.
As a college president and father of three young adults, these findings gave me pause. In my studied observation, the findings about lacking purpose seem especially poignant and are often coupled with a belief that everyone else has already found their life’s direction — which adds more anxiety and no small amount of FOMO (fear of missing out). This can create a near show-stopping panic that makes some young people more determined than ever to envision, set out, and then reach a quickly constructed destination in an effort to find their purpose.
But here’s the real kicker: That result may not even exist. What I mean is that it’s likely there isn’t some Elysian Field out there — some quantifiable direction or destination that has purpose or meaning attached to it. What if “purpose” isn’t what you find when you arrive someplace, but is instead a discovery you can make at every spot along the way? If that’s true, this is a critical adjustment for Generation Z, because this shift has the potential to allay fear, quiet anxiety, and curb some types of depression.
That’s why I have been contemplating the important role that young adults play in supporting younger adults as they learn what I wish I had discovered earlier — that all of life, every good, bad and ugly moment, is full of meaning and purpose ready to be discovered.
The progress I’ve made in my own meaning-making has come thanks to thoughtful mentors further along in life’s journey who paused to ask a few questions like this one: What if life is less about the one ultimate thing we say “yes” to and more about the opportunities we see in
everything? These wise guides listened intently and shared personal, sometimes vulnerable, life reflections with me.
With almost three in five young adults reporting a lack of “meaning” or “purpose,” those of us around them can offer what is clearly much-needed support. If we believe our young adults represent our future prosperity, we should empathetically reach out to those we meet and interact with, offering them our advice and care. In my own experimentation on campus, I’m learning that the quality of the questions I ask matters a lot when it comes to the sort of conversations that result.
When I inquire about a student’s major, or what they want to do after graduation, I get either a definitive or a distressed answer — but almost always one that seems brittle and void of reflection. More expansive questions like “What is bringing you joy these days?” or “What feels hard as you think about your future?” often invite a conversation of depth.
Along the way, I get to share my own experience that finding purpose has not been a straight line headed toward a single destination but instead a winding path with data points on all the bumps and valleys.
What have I discovered in these everyday conversations with so many bright young people? That the simple act of listening to their struggles, and reassuring them that finding life’s purpose is a journey that they are only just beginning, can help to ease their anxieties at least a little.
Frank Shushok Jr., Ph.D., is the president of Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia.