Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about generations.
Not because I set out to. It just seems like one thing after another keeps making me stop and look at them a little differently.
It started after I watched 13 Reasons Why. It was probably one of the most intense television series I’ve ever watched.
I loved high school. When I think back on those years, I remember friends, football games, school activities, and the freedom that came with being young.
As I watched the series, I realized something uncomfortable.
The bullying, loneliness, mental health struggles, and heartbreak probably weren’t new.
I’m sure many of those things existed when I was in high school too.
I just didn’t see them.
Or maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention.
Watching the series made me realize how much I still have to learn before my daughter reaches high school. It also made me wonder how I’ll help her navigate a world that feels both familiar and completely different from the one I experienced.
Not long after that, my daughter and I took our first travel adventure together.
Just the two of us.
The trip involved more than ten hours in the car and several states between home and our destination. Years ago, I traveled constantly for work. I would fly into unfamiliar cities, rent a car, print out directions and find my way around without much thought.
Somewhere over the past several years, I lost some of that confidence.
Before this trip, I was genuinely nervous. I wasn’t even certain we would make the trip until a few days before we left.
All along the way, I kept thinking about a phrase that seemed to follow me throughout my early professional years.
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
At the time, it was usually used to describe large projects and impossible deadlines. Break it down. Focus on the next step. Keep moving forward.
As I stared down a ten-hour drive with my daughter, I realized the advice still applied.
I didn’t need to conquer the entire trip.
I only needed to handle the next stretch of road.
The next busy interchange.
The next hotel stop.
The next hour.
Little by little, we got there.
The same thing happened with traveling alongside my daughter.
I worried about her anxiety. I worried about the long days in the car. I worried about keeping medications on schedule and making sure she felt comfortable.
We packed more comfort items than we probably needed. We planned ahead. We took breaks.
And she did great.
Somewhere between the miles and the hotel stops, I realized something.
Many of the things I worry about become much smaller once I am actually living them.
Once the driving and travel worries settled down, I had the chance to simply enjoy why we’d made the trip in the first place.
The best part of the trip, though, was spending time with several generations of family.
My daughter immediately gravitated toward the Boomers.
Every time I turned around, she seemed to be sitting with a grandparent, listening to stories or sharing her own. They were patient. They were calm. They weren’t rushing anywhere.
As someone who tends to carry a little too much stress, I found myself appreciating their laid-back approach as well.
I also spent quite a bit of time talking with Gen Z young adults.
If I’m honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
Like many people, I’ve read the headlines. The stories about younger generations being glued to their phones. The concerns about work ethic. The endless comparisons between generations.
What I found instead were thoughtful, conversational young adults.
They listened as older family members told stories about growing up. They shared their own experiences openly. They talked about careers, relationships, and mental health in ways my generation rarely did at their age.
They seemed comfortable discussing struggles without shame.
And I found that refreshing.
My generation grew up with a very different message.
Work hard.
Push through.
Don’t complain.
Show up even when you’re sick.
Take care of your responsibilities first.
There is value in those lessons.
But I also think there is value in some of the things younger generations are teaching us.
The openness around mental health.
The acceptance of differences.
The willingness to question whether being constantly exhausted is really something to celebrate.
The Boomers I spent time with reminded me to slow down.
Gen Z reminded me to keep an open mind.
And my daughter reminded me that sometimes people connect best with those who see the world very differently from themselves.
As I drove home, I realized the trip had challenged more than my confidence behind the wheel.
It challenged some of my assumptions.
About myself.
About my daughter.
And about the generations around me.
Maybe every generation gets misunderstood by the generations that come before and after it.
The more time I spend with people of different ages, the less interested I become in deciding which generation did it best.
I’m much more interested in what we can learn from one another.
Maybe that’s one of the unexpected gifts of getting older.
Not that we finally have all the answers.
But that we slowly begin to realize how much we never saw in the first place.
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