the woes of gen Ys

at a retreat following the conclusion of high school, i remember this older guy i respected telling me i was going to move to seattle and turn into a yuppie. (he also predicted brandon would turn in to a hippie since he was moving to bozeman and that one day we would go on to have yippie children.) while i may live in a highly libertarian, gun-toting, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps state, if i'm honest, i am a bit of a yippie. a friend of mine shared an article about why folks from the gen Y generation aren't happy:

i'd say that about sums it up: my general dissatisfaction in all areas of life seems to originate in my expectations. the first year of marriage didn't look exactly like i thought it should look, therefore something must have been wrong. my score on my licensure exam wasn't as high as i expected it would be, therefore i must not be smart. i wasn't radiant and glowing in my first trimester of pregnancy (rather, i was pukey and green), therefore i wasn't "good" at being pregnant. (who is the standard of pregnancy goodness anyway? ah, the lies we tell ourselves.)

anyhow, the article is long and includes a lot of poor graphics from microsoft paint circa 1990, but it concluded with this advice for those of us caught in the "woe is me" cycle:

1) Stay wildly ambitious. The current world is bubbling with opportunity for an ambitious person to find flowery, fulfilling success. The specific direction may be unclear, but it'll work itself out -- just dive in somewhere.
2) Stop thinking that you're special. The fact is, right now, you're not special. You're another completely inexperienced young person who doesn't have all that much to offer yet. You can become special by working really hard for a long time.
3) Ignore everyone else. Other people's grass seeming greener is no new concept, but in today's image-crafting world, other people's grass looks like a glorious meadow. The truth is that everyone else is just as indecisive, self-doubting, and frustrated as you are, and if you just do your thing, you'll never have any reason to envy others.