The Generation X Files

I have an auto-immune disease and I suffer from fatigue all the time because of it.

I spend hours on forums where there is discussion on this subject. Most of the time, it’s people asking if they are genuinely fatigued or just lazy. Here’s the thing, when your immune system is in a constant battle against an imaginary enemy, it’s exhausting!

You know that feeling you have when you first get the flu? You feel drained as your defenses are fighting hard on your body’s behalf. Can you imagine what it’s like to feel like that all the time?

The hard part is explaining that to others. I think a lot of people assume it’s laziness because it’s difficult to understand if you haven’t lived it yourself.

It makes me sad when I see posts from people who are tired of constantly being mislabelled by others.

If I’m honest, I don’t really like any kinds of labels whether they’re accurate or not. It feels like over the last five years or so it’s become essential to apply them to ourselves or each other.

I can’t help but feel it’s been more divisive than anything else.

Taking the fatigue vs lazy topic as an example, why is one more acceptable than the other? If I tell someone I have a chronic illness that is physically draining I will get a different reaction than if I simply say I am lazy.

Why have to justify which it is? If it doesn’t have a direct impact on your life then why does it matter?

It feels like we’re constantly being encouraged to pick a side. To make a declaration that you believe in this or that. I think it’s an easy way to keep us distracted from a world we know in our bones isn’t right or fair.

The thing is humans are complex creatures capable of being lots of different things at once. Why try to fit that neatly into categories?

Is it to give us an illusion that we have choices? Or to stomp on the desire for them?

I’ll be honest with you, I couldn’t be more disappointed with the world we’re living in. I feel frustrated on a daily basis by current events and pushed narratives. I’m sick of being told what to think and how to feel about people from this group or that. Especially when this world is far from perfect.

When I was young, I (naively) thought by now we’d be living in a technological utopia. I hoped we’d realise that things like monarchy and ‘elite classes’ have no place in modern society.

Instead, the divide between the rich and the poor is actually growing. We are assured that everyone has a chance to become wealthy if we work hard. So what does that mean if you’re poor? You’re just not working hard enough?

Another thing I struggle with is religion. Not the idea of having faith – just the fact that there is more than one to choose from. How do you know yours is the ‘right’ God? Why have so many humans had to die in one way or another to appease them?

I can’t subscribe to anything that has us pitted against each other whatever the reason. Why do I have to choose between one thing or another if there is often room for both?

It’s no wonder people are becoming more ‘socially awkward’ when every day feels like we’re at war with one another.

When you can be ostracised just for having a different opinion from someone that’s not a ‘free society’.

I don’t care what your political affiliation is because I think the system is rigged either way. I think if politicians were doing the job for the greater good of society it wouldn’t enrich their own lives so much.

I don’t have a problem with your faith, sexuality, mental health status or anything else for that matter. It’s not my business how anyone lives their life so long as they aren’t hurting others.

I believe there are good people and bad people and everything in between – it’s part and parcel of being human I think. I don’t think any of us is perfect. And I certainly don’t think any of us has the right to choose how someone else should live their life if they’re not doing any harm.

Maybe, if we all stop looking for the ‘faults’ in each other we could expand our thinking. Start looking at the bigger problems instead. Perhaps question why we are fighting with each other instead of the ones that are creating the problems that divide us in the first place.

Be honest, do you feel like you’re living your ‘best life’? Do you think the world is fair and just and we all have equal opportunities wherever we live?

I don’t. I think that’s why it’s so important to keep us distracted and divided. To keep us from realising we have more in common than dividing us and begin to put aside petty differences.

I think that’s why we need to stop picking sides and choose each other instead…before it’s too late and we’re too far apart…

If we all stand together, it will just be the start……

Citizen Jane x

p.s I am thinking of making an audio version available for all of my blog posts. Please let me know if you think it would be useful in the comments section below.