Finding Purpose in Generation ME

We’ve all been showered with love and ambition, and we don’t know what to do with it.

Mar 4th, 2019

Israel Ellis Headshot

Israel Ellis

Finding Purpose in Generation ME

4 minute Read

We’ve all been showered with love and ambition, and we don’t know what to do with it.

These were the words of my son during a discussion about what I termed the “unprecedented” opportunities for his generation. His statement stuck out and made me think.

A little background: At the time of writing this, Eitan is 22. He is in his second year of university studying government and counter-terrorism. Eitan joined the Israeli Defence Forces as a lone-soldier right out of high school where he spent three years in a Golani combat unit. He has had the opportunity to travel well beyond his incubated upbringing in Canada, and today his social circle is global. He has friends from Canada, USA, UK, Africa, Australia, Israel (Jewish, Arab Christian, Muslim), and so on. I would say that his experiences are quite diverse…and boy, does he have opinions! Typical and healthy at this age.

He and his friends are very wary of governments, bureaucracy, and a self-serving society. They are overtly critical of media, lack of privacy, and consumerism, although they participate in a society where these are ubiquitous. Eitan does not want to be defined by others and yet he cannot define who he necessarily wants to be. I admire him and his friends, and the passion to make their lives matter. As I write this, it’s Friday night in Herzliya Petuach. The beach in the distance and a warm wind blowing through this affluent beach town, my son and a dozen or so of his friends are making dinner, and the wine and scotch flowing. They are a close bunch – and I can’t help but feel a tinge of envy for simpler times and a more idealistic period in my life.

When Eitan and his friends talk, I love how they speak about every subject with such passion – they are purposeful in their desire to bring meaning and change, to be part of creating a better world. When he launches into a tirade I listen. I quietly smile and am proud – because he is not satisfied with merely existing or the status quo, he wants to own it.

Eitan and his friends have the wonderful privilege of being together and depending on each other away from home, in a country known for its passions and for surviving by determination and innovation. They are a family finding its purpose, discovering life together, motivated to make a difference. It seems to me a pretty healthy way to dock with the mother ship that is adulthood. But this is not the case for many of this generation who find themselves isolated and alone.

In Moving Through Walls I talk about my fears for a generation in crisis. I am deeply concerned that there is a pessimism amongst our children, who, faced with so much opportunity and cause for FOMO (fear of missing out), feel overwhelmed by the accomplishments that came before them and the feeling that there is nothing new to bring to the table (MTW, Self-worth, page 209). With time on their hands, money at their disposal, and the coddling of parents who want to provide them with the best, they are experiencing a crisis in purpose and meaning.

Every day, more than 130 people in the United States die after overdosing on opioids.

CDC/NCHS, National Vital Statistics System, Mortality. CDC WONDER, Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2018. https://wonder.cdc.gov.

The number of kids dying is overwhelmingly scary. I do not believe these kids are intentional about killing themselves. I do believe, however, that many of these highly intelligent and educated youth are simply bored, and that this boredom is killing them. The youth of today are becoming increasingly frustrated by political polarization, religious hypocrisy, and poor judgments, and lack examples of people they can look up to.

Our kids rightly expect so much more from us. The time is now to connect with this generation. They are screaming for our help. We have a responsibility to provide these young people with the challenges they so desire. This demographic must be given a sense that they have the most important mission yet, and that is to protect, build, and sustain society to its greatest potential. Just as we, as individuals, can become great, so can our global society become greater. And maybe that is just the point here. Kids today are moving beyond the individualistic “me” to the purposely “we.”

Let’s make sure that they know we hear them, and let’s give them the reigns of leadership to make good use of all that we have imbued them with.

Thank you for making me a part of your journey. Please let me know how it’s coming along. We are all capable of moving through walls!


One Reply to “Finding Purpose in Generation ME”

Comments are closed.

In Moving Through Walls I have narrowed the answers to four foundational principles. These ideas are tools to achieve the life you want to live. Embrace them and make them your own.

– Israel Ellis

ORDER THE BOOK

I wrote Moving Through Walls out of a purpose to share what I have learned.

If you have a deep desire to find that road less travelled to your greatest self. Then you have likely come to the right place.

author section_Israel_portrait

THE HERO WALL

Submit your Hero Story

Lets make the HERO WALL happen Be a hero, change the world! Tell your Hero Story Here

Feel good, safe, open, smile, express, learn, experience, hope, dreams, strengthen @ movingthroughwalls.com .

YOU are the hero that will change the world!

Related Articles

The Emotional Trap Door

4 minute Read

The Emotional Trap Door

Our emotions are a bellwether of what is going on subconsciously in our minds. They...

Read Blog   

4 years ago

  0 Comments

The Wealth of Intuitive Health

5 minute Read

The Wealth of Intuitive Health

A core message in Moving Through Walls (MTW) is that our intuitive health plays a...

Read Blog   

4 years ago

  0 Comments

Read More Articls

Accelerators are the fuel for greatness. With every personal and professional project that we commit to and bring to the finish line, we increase the confidence we have in ourselves, the faith that others have in us, and our abilities to achieve larger tasks. But to open those doors, it starts with commitment. It starts with taking the shot. Just do it! as the famous ad campaign goes.

Mrs. Ellison, my grade five teacher, who at the time seemed older than God, would single me out because I did not have my lunch or because my work was not completed. She would hear no excuses. It did not matter to her that at ten years old, I had no one to make me lunch or that I would come to school in pretty bad shape. She would look me straight in the eye, a tremor in her voice, point a shaky finger at me, and say, “Young man, where there is a will, there is a way.”

In retrospect, I have to thank her for her unwavering lack of empathy for me, even if the appropriate action might have been to call a children’s aid society. She drummed that phrase into my head and it stuck. When I find myself in front of what appears to be an impenetrable wall, I recount her words, often saying them out loud in a chant-like fashion.

This mantra has kept me pushing and persevering over the years. There is always a way to move through walls. I have moved through many in my journey, and I will move through more. The commitment to moving through walls reminds me that by keeping stock in my faith and asking the universe to deliver, I will find that crack in the dam and a trickle of opportunity will make its way through to lead me to the next great place on my journey.

Challenging ourselves and pushing the boundaries of what we think we’re capable of is a powerful accelerator. Accelerators related to physical endeavors can be particularly powerful. By persevering through physical discomfort, we learn to access new sources of confidence and motivation. Not to mention, it keeps you looking and feeling great, which is an accelerator all on its own!

Buy the Book

Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to tell a story in six words. He came up with the famous six-word story: “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” Inspired by this story, Larry Smith of SMITH Magazine challenged others to try to write their lives in six words.

I thought this idea was quite the challenge. How could you encapsulate a life in six words? I was struck by both the brilliant simplicity and the enormity of the challenge: sum up the total sense of who I am and what I believe and package it in a six- word micro-memoir.

I was stumped. For several days, I considered what impact these six words would have on how I value myself. Six words does not allow for any excess; it requires the writer to focus in on what is most important. The exercise took on a new challenge for me. I realized it was asking me to distill my life down to my core essential truth.

When I eventually committed my six words to paper, I felt a great wave of relief come over me. I was calmed by its truth: Living my Life on my Terms. In six words, I captured the feeling of the gratefulness I felt and how far I’d come to understand what a gift life is. Every time I see these words they continue to strengthen and inspire me.

Try it yourself. What are your six words?

Buy the Book

A point of caution here: Stories of grievance have a shelf life. There is a point of repetition where you risk becoming a broken record. No one has the patience to listen to the same grievance over and over again. Grievances can also eventually manifest themselves to include things that did not happen. People who have chosen to dedicate their lives to bearing crosses often become so obsessed that they lose the connection to what really happened.

Don’t become trapped in this cycle. You get a limited number of passes before your story of grievance needs to evolve into one of “heroism”—and this is the story you can tell over and over again. No one gets tired of hearing about heroism. It is motivating and positive. A story of overcoming hardship gives strength to others, and every hero deserves to share their story.

Buy the Book

“If you are meant to be on the path that you are on, the universe will find a way, even when you can’t. When you realize this fact, you will have stumbled upon one of the secret ingredients for success; if you focus on “what” you need to happen—you articulate your goal—the universe will supply the “how.” That is the power of faith. ”

Buy the Book

“If you put your best foot forward and do everything within your power, you will come to a place that is your destiny. “Believe” that you are loved. “Believe” that you have value. And “believe” that you are an important part of this vast universe, one that is a far better place because you have chosen to pursue your greatness, and in doing so, have affected the world in ways that you may never become aware of.”

Buy the Book

Accelerate

"People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."
-Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

It’s a beautiful summer morning on the ocean, and the perfect wave is coming in. You’ve spotted the wave, paddled hard to be in the right position to catch it, and now you are on the top—on the crest. You lean in, commit yourself, and tip the board forward. You invite the surging force of the breaking water to take over, and the result is a massive jolt of acceleration. Looking back, it seems as if everything that happened was pre-destined, there is such perfect harmony between yourself, your purpose, and nature. In that moment, riding atop the surge, is acceleration. 

"I have trust in my intuition, powered by the confidence that comes from past achievements. I have done it before; I can do it again.”

Buy the Book

“Foundation 4: Forgiveness

The final foundation is forgiveness. When an injustice has been perpetrated against you, it can be incredibly difficult to heal and move forward. That said, when we hang on to the anger that resides deep within us, it tarnishes the soul and blurs our ability to envision and realize the future we desire. To move forward, we must prevail and overcome. But how? How do you move on?
The chapter on forgiveness was the hardest and most personal for me to write. For a long time I struggled to forgive people who had hurt me, but in my journey I realized that only through forgiveness can we unlock a future in which we become the best versions of ourselves. That future is worth the discomfort of being vulnerable. ”

Buy the Book

“What I call the four foundations—openness, faith, future, and forgiveness—are principles that we can use to change the way we interact with the world. These foundations will be the topics of Part One of this book. Our perception—how we see the world around us—is shaped by our life experiences. In our earliest years, we form many of the biases we carry throughout our lives; these biases often predict how we react to the world around us and prevent us from making the changes necessary to living our greatest lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We all have the potential to become mindful of our biases and loosen their grip upon us. With conscious effort, we can achieve a state of being that aligns with who we want to be, not where we came from.People often say that change starts with altering actions and behaviors, but I believe this statement is a case of mistaking means for ends. We start the change process by having a vision of who we want to be or what we want to accomplish. Only then will our actions and behaviors change to accommodate that vision.”

Buy the Book

It is easy to get distracted by the many choices now available to us in our fast-moving world. The multitude of professions we can pursue, the places we can live, the media we can choose to consume, and the people we can meet and commit to. With an unprecedented wealth of choices at our doorstep, it’s no wonder that people find themselves frozen in fear at the thought of missing out. FOMO (fear of missing out) is an anxiety disorder in this day and age. It leaves people wondering what they missed out on and causes them to lose out on the present. Worse, it can create a continual state of indecision.

The cure to FOMO is simple. When you love yourself and fill yourself with conscious gratitude, you will be content with wherever the universe has dropped you off and your feelings of missing out will disappear...

Buy the Book