It鈥檚 easy to feel like being young sucks right now.

Most of us don鈥檛 think we鈥檒l ever own a house in Canada. We work multiple jobs to keep up with the cost of living. We can鈥檛 find doctors. We鈥檝e had 鈥渢he best years of our lives鈥� disrupted by the pandemic. We鈥檙e hardly represented in an increasingly divisive political landscape. We deal with increasing anxiety about climate change and the future of the planet.

All of that sucks. It sucks for everyone, but for young people, it can feel like the end of the world.

That鈥檚 backed up by the Mental Health Index complied by LifeWorks which has tracked the mental health of Canadians over the past two years. The index has found that younger Canadians 鈥� those under 40 鈥� have worse mental health scores than people who are older. Students enrolled in full-time post-secondary education have consistently reported the worst mental health outcomes of any demographic.

Far too often, the concerns of younger generations are disregarded. We鈥檙e told to grow up, we鈥檙e told that this is simply 鈥渉ow things work in the real world鈥� and that 鈥渨e don鈥檛 know how good we have it鈥�. Nobody can deny that the youth of 2022 have a better standard of living than the youth of 1922, but we don鈥檛 have it nearly as good as the youth of 1972.

There is simply not enough support out there for all the young people who are struggling. Though that doesn鈥檛 mean that the struggles are insurmountable.

If everything was truly terrible, if our planet was truly beyond saving it might make sense to throw up our hands and give up.

That鈥檚 not the case. If you take a look around B.C., you鈥檒l find it鈥檚 often young people at the forefront of climate action movements, racial justice protests, advocating for an end to the toxic drug crisis and coming up with creative solutions to our problems.

But young people aren鈥檛 always taken seriously.

Up until recently, the so-called young generations of Millenials and Gen Z haven鈥檛 had a seat at the table. The oldest Millennials are now 40 years old and represent the largest demographic in Canada 鈥� and the politically engaged Gen Z is coming up rapidly behind them. The tides are shifting and the problems of Canada鈥檚 鈥測ounger鈥� generations are quickly becoming mainstream.

It鈥檚 easy to feel like being young sucks. It鈥檚 easy to look at all the problems in the world and get overwhelmed.

It won鈥檛 be easy to solve our problems, but our world and our futures are worth fighting for.

Cole Schisler is a provincial reporter with Black Press Media.

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cole.schisler@bpdigital.ca
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