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Down the Rabbit Hole
In 2009, millions of Boomers, including me, were dumped onto Alice’s chessboard. I had lost our small farm where we raised alpacas. Each of the millions has his or her own story of struggle and loss.
It is as like fell down Alice’s rabbit hole in ’69, traveled through time and dropped out of YouTube decades later. I spent those years speeding down the tunnel in the cocoon of what I thought would be lifetime employment. What’s ironic is that YouTube is a time machine. You can travel back in time to Woodstock in 1969, “three days of peace, love and understanding”.
Carlos Santana, one with his guitar - The Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia’s beard still fully black - Jefferson Airplane’s white rabbit speaking of drugs, both “the ones your mother gives you” and the ones used by our generation.
Jimi Hendrix delivered his incredible Star Spangled Banner… the stage went silent. Jimi, Jerry and others are gone. Even Alice is not there to answer our questions. We had enjoyed Alice’s wonderland. Now, it was anything but wonderful.
For more than a year, I tried to get back into the cocoon of employment, but I found that for most of us it was not an option. In retrospect, it was much like the monarch leaving its cocoon. I had to learn the rules of this new world.
The chessboard is now social media, its characters each with their own personality and message. There are many Queens and Mad Hatters – crazy voices and sane voices – the only one that matters is yours and experience is your Alice.
Nearly seven million of the generation ever is either unemployed, underemployed or has fallen out of the system completely. Each of us has many years of knowledge and experience, but companies are not interested in hiring.
What many are missing is knowledge of the new rules. The good news is that social media is pretty easy. The better news is that our experience is not wasted. In fact, it is a great advantage when combined with social media.
Our generation still has many years ahead and we don’t need to go silently into the night.
I realized that my life would change. I started looking for a job, instead I found my passion. I could help others in my generation get the results that they need to grasp their dreams. Alice eventually figured out what was happening. When she did, she was freed of the Queen’s power. She was no longer trapped and only she was in control of her future.
If you are still wondering what to do… stay tuned. (Don’t ‘tune out’, man!)
