The Generational Contrast: Why Younger People Choose Growth Over Stagnation

There’s a real contrast between how older and younger generations approach growth and change. For many older people, the mentality seems to be, “This is just how I was born,” or “This is how life shaped me, and that’s that.” It’s as if they’ve accepted that who they are now is fixed–a permanent result of the world they were born into. The idea of change can feel impossible, unnecessary, or even threatening.

On the other hand, the younger generation sees things differently. We’re asking, Why am I like this? What caused it? How can I fix it? We’re not content to accept that this is just the way things are. Instead, we want to dig deeper, understand what’s behind the root of our behaviors and emotions, and actively work to change what isn’t serving us.

Why Older Generations Resist Change?

For many in older generations, change can feel like admitting something’s wrong or broken. It’s easier to chalk things up to the way they were raised, the struggles they endured, or just “how life is.” Digging into those layers means confronting pain they’ve spent a lifetime avoiding–and to be fair, that’s terrifying for anyone.

Instead many hold on to their identity as it is, even if it means staying stuck in cycles they may not realize exist. The idea of changing what feels familiar can feel like losing a piece of themselves, and that fear can prevent them from even trying.

The Younger Generations’ Approach

For us, it’s not about blame or shame. It’s about wanting to understand ourselves better and create a future that isn’t weighed down by the past. Therapy, meditation, hypnotherapy, and self-help aren’t just buzzwords–they’re tools we’re using to take control of our lives.

We’ve seen firsthand how unprocessed trauma tears apart relationships, damages mental health, and traps people in patterns that don’t align with who they want to be. And we don’t want to keep repeating those cycles. Instead, we’re saying, Let’s figure out what’s going on so we can actually move forward.

A Broken World That Shaped Us

It’s not hard to see why our generation feels the need for healing. From a young age, we’ve been exposed to global events that left lasting scars:

• 9/11 and the War on Terror: We grew up with the idea that we were fighting for justice. Later, we learned about the innocent lives lost and the long-term consequences of those wars. It left many of us questioning everything we’d been taught about right and wrong.

• The 2008 Financial Crisis: Just as families were starting to recover emotionally, the Great Recession hit. We watched our parents lose jobs, homes, and their sense of stability. It was a harsh lesson in how systems we were told to trust could fail–and how those failures hurt everyday people the most.

• The Pandemic: COVID-19 was a defining moment. Governments scrambled, misinformation spread, and families faced unimaginable loss and isolation. It exposed how fragile our systems are and left us grappling with the emotional fallout.

These aren’t just historical events–they’ve shaped us in ways we can’t ignore.

Why We’re Committed to Healing

We’ve seen the ripple effects of ignoring trauma:

• Families breaking apart under the pressure of financial stress, political divides, or unresolved grief.

• Mental health struggles becoming the norm instead of the exception, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.

• Older generations avoiding their pain, only for it to resurface in ways that harm themselves and the people around them. 

So, we’ve decided to do things differently. This is why therapy, meditation, and hypnotherapy resonate so strongly with us. They give us tools to face the hard stuff, process it, and break free from unhealthy patterns.

The Key Difference

The real difference really comes down to how each generation views change. For older generations, change can feel like a threat to their identity–a sign of weakness or failure. For younger generations, it’s empowering. It’s not about erasing who we are; it’s about growing into the person we want to become.

Bridging the Divide

There’s something both generations can learn from each other. Older generations have wisdom and experience that can guide us through life’s challenges. And younger generations can show that confronting pain isn’t a sign of weakness–it’s a sign of strength.

At the end of the day, it’s about choice. Our generation has decided we’re not going to settle for “this is just how I am.” We’re choosing to dig deep, do the work, and create a life that aligns with who we want to be. And that’s a lesson we could all benefit from.

Confronting pain is hard. But if we can look at the tough stuff, learn from it, and grow, maybe we can create the kind of world we always hoped was possible.