Of Millennials, Digital Nomads, and Cottagecore
So there's actually a long backstory to this one. The penultimate conversation starter to this piece was when I was working on a file which had, among other things, a mother concerned for her son, who, at the age of 25, was still looking for his way and place in the world. I told my best friend about some of the file, whom I was at the cafe working with, and used the word "groundless," as in not belonging anywhere. My best friend and I - we've been friends for more'n two decades - had had our share of groundlessness. So we speculated about this groundlessness, and why it was there. We recognize our values stemming from our parents and our parents' generation, where work was defined as something more solid and tangible - in terms of outputs, regimented office hours, fixed salaries, uniforms, tenure. That's why we - in the Filipino household context, at least - still think of "proper" jobs as those belonging to doctors, nurses, engineers, policem