Do It for the Plot

Gen Z are adept at inhabiting main character energy to move the story of their life forward so that the plot remains engaging even when they’re not engaged.

Music I’m not familiar with (because I’m a dinosaur) streams out of the bathroom as my visiting niece takes a shower. She’s taking her time. I bet she’s found and lit a scented candle. Now, she’s singing. Hearing her relaxes me. When’s the last time I showered without the pressure to get dinner on or ensure that my husband, who’s sitting in the car, doesn’t leave for our romantic date without me? My niece is 21. What was I like at 21? What were my thoughts made of? My niece is on her way to Florence for a holiday with friends. She bought herself a business class ticket from Mumbai. Covid destroyed her dreams of becoming a ballerina and attending dance school in NYC. So, she reinvented herself as a fashion designer and today has her own ‘Venture studio’ (a term coined by ChatGPT for her business model) with 3 major investing clients and different verticals that provide a one-stop shop for garment retail and supply both forward and backward manufacturing services. She’s all of 21. “I’m going to bring ‘kind leather’ to India, own my farms and tanneries and supply to international luxury brands. India is the 4th largest producer of leather in the world but not for luxury. You know the government is giving subsidies and tax breaks for this?”

I didn’t but I recognise the audacity of youth that’s fuelling her plans. An audacity that comes from not overthinking the problems, ‘no’ not being part of the vocabulary, having more energy and less responsibility to take care of everything on your plate AND schedule a few weeks holiday every few weeks. I too achieved glory at 21 but I was naïve about making money and setting life goals. We worked hard and dreamed big because we were expected to. We did it mostly for others, we needed our friends, family and strangers to see us succeed. Unlike my niece who says, “I want a luxurious life and I’m going to make sure I give it to myself.” Her working hard to afford herself might make me a Gen Z convert yet, only if they weren’t as contradictory as they are.

The sky is no limit for them but some days they don’t make it out of their room. They’re flitty and absent but come up with ideas your brain didn’t allow you to think of. Their internet-learnt business schemes are detailed, confident and have legs but they don’t know Chad is a country. They’re comfortable in their own company but not in their own skin. They’ve perfected the art of self congratulation but rarely self correct. They credit themselves openly for their success but reject the need to be successful. Gen Z is wise and idiotic at the same time. Or am I seeing them through a skewed lens? Judging them by a value system that was imposed on us, one that we weren’t empowered enough to question nor reject but as adults have paid good money to rid ourselves of the grief it has caused. They think nothing of abandoning projects and retreating into their holes because “it didn’t feel right.” While we’ve spent our lives completing assignments we’ve no skin or joy in only because we had to. If they’re the anxious generation, we’re the frustrated one.

It wasn’t till I turned 40 that I learnt the benefits of culling commitments and people who were negative Nancies. I’ll still sometimes show up when I least want to and know it to be a waste of time, then stress about wasting time. It’s in my wiring. Gen Z suffers from no such obligation, they’ve perfected the art of vanishing. When they do show up they’re present, curious and chill. I like spending time with them, they make me see the fluid lines in a world I’ve cut up into boxes. Delayed gratification was a given for us Xers, but everything comes to Gen Z in minutes. When we wanted something tasty from a novel cuisine we’d have to move our butts to go get it or at least wait a good half hour before biting into it. Now, if the Khao Suey delivery takes more than 15 minutes it’s free. They have no default daily challenges for expending their energy, instead they use it to victimise themselves, weaponizing their emotions. It’s not their fault, they’ve been taught if it doesn’t give instant rewards it’s worth nothing. Swiggy and DoorDash – your success story has ensured that this generation doesn’t know how to wait and has no muscle for endurance.

My writing agent’s associate calls to tell me she’s moving on.

“Where to?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“That’s brave of you,” I mean it. My generation takes risks too but after they’ve hedged their bets and negotiated their package.

“Comfort is the enemy of change,” the associate says with a confidence that befits her age. “In any case, I’m doing it for the plot.” This is when you move your life along as if you’re the main character of a story. Decisions are based on what that character would do for the drama. Let’s say, you’re nervous about going on a blind date but as the hero of the story you’ve to go, for better or worse, otherwise the plot dies. Is there a way to take Gen Z wisdom but keep our work ethic? If it’s too late for us and them, then, let’s make a cocktail to pass it on to Gen Alpha - if only they’ll stop talking in a language we need influencers to decode. (If you have a teen please help me with the meaning of “Chicken jockey skibbidy, clock that T”)

Last night, embodying main character energy, I walked into my newly renovated bathroom with a candle, turned up the volume on my phone to drown out any possibility of hearing “What are we eating for dinner?” and danced under the shower. I was doing it for the plot.

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I’d love to hear your gen Z story.