Marriage, a nine-to-five job, a stable career, and then retirement in the golden years.
How do these fit into our lives when the world has changed so much since these ideals were promoted? Are dreams and ideals as elusive as they were a year, a decade, or a century ago? Is it that we now face the harsh reality of life, struggling to enter the workforce with entry-level jobs often out of reach due to LLMs that many mistakenly believe are genuine?
A shift in perspective is essential, as we can’t pretend that 100 years of free trade and globalization are eternal, just because Henry Ford popularized the assembly line and workers earned weekends. Traditional life goals like a career and marriage may be rooted in history, but they are becoming less attainable for young people focused solely on survival or seeking stability in their lives.
The decline in community has contributed to this, with social bonds unraveling in favor of a toxic individualism that insists you’re an independent person who relies on no one, and no one can rely on you. Preserving your peace has become more important than building any form of community, figurative or real.
As a journalist, I find psychological fulfillment, emotional energy, and, of course, income from my work. The stability I have in my career and various jobs is something I’ve crafted for myself. I reflect on the writers and journalists of the past—the thinkers—and realize I may not have a single job with a salary, office, and coworkers like my father or grandfather did at my age, yet I am a journalist because I embody the values and ethics, do the work, and share the struggles of my peers. I often defend pursuing a graduate degree in the field despite the industry’s low trust, funding challenges, and the rise of anti-intellectualism.
Similarly, with marriage or family life, maintaining a resilient internal narrative is key. Throughout history, people have had children, married, fallen in love, and found romance amidst war and peace, genocide, and disaster. My mother’s family has roots in Aleppo stretching back over 900 years; we’ve been urban dwellers of various religions sharing streets longer than most countries have existed, so no, the world isn’t ending now, even if it’s harder to live in. We simply have to adapt.
It’s not easy to encapsulate in one column, but you can’t live life believing history is over and we’re just heading toward a Star Trek-like future. We live in times that will be documented in history books, so will you focus on achieving life goals you think you must have, or will you truly live your life?
As a third culture kid, I needed both cognitive therapy and spiritual guidance to understand that these goals won’t materialize just because we desire them. Wanting them is natural, but pursuing them for their own sake reveals little about ourselves or the world. By exploring why we seek a spouse, children, a career, or a home, rather than blindly pursuing them, we gain the opportunity to focus on living life instead of waiting for it to happen.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com
