What about the Xennials? or, more about me
I was born in 1981. I've been on an adventure of spiritual development ever since 2008 when I had a manic episode as a side-effect of leaving my antidepressants cold-turkey because I wanted to live without meds. That was when I rediscovered my artistic nature while at the same time deciding I wanted to work "in IT" (at the time I was working on my master's degree so that I could be a fully licensed teacher of ESL students and employed as a classroom assistant/translator/interpreter in public schools - I saw where public education was headed and wanted nothing to do with it anymore).
So...
- I had an analog childhood and digital adulthood (did not have a cell phone until 2002, did not have a smart phone until 2012)
- I am a technologist AND artist - have been "in IT" (currently in software development) since 2011; dancing and painting and doodling since 2009
- I have first hand experience of antidepressants - I know the relief of being able to wake up and not be seethingly angry or despairingly depressed, as well as how it's a band-aid that allows you to bypass working on the personal shit that brought you there in the first place - understanding that some people actually need meds and everyone is on their own journey so I cannot judge
- part of my healing process has been shamanic work - journeying unseen realms, and energy work (reiki)
- all of my spiritual teachers have been older than me
- but I feel that the modalities I have practiced (shamanism, reiki) are evolving... or it's the world that is evolving, and the people born after me don't have the same needs as I or the people born before me had...
- and what was originally imparted to me by my teachers is only the first step, and my current journey is to understand (and then apply) how the older wisdom fits with a world that has new technologies (blockchain and decentralization specifically) available to it.
- and perhaps, take what I've learned about the new technologies back to the generation that taught me and teach them why and how to use them in their own healing practices.
We xennials (anyone else out there?) are the bridge between our teachers and our younger siblings.
Good on you!
"To search for enlightenment is to look for the horse you are riding." (love those Easterners)
Re IT: It's all about the data---identifying it, modeling its flow through a system, leaving space for it to evolve, and protecting it. The rest is just learning and using the appropriate tools (operating systems, languages). Operationally---work at your own pace, refuse to be hurried, and test EVERYTHING. A helpful rule of thumb (for me, anyway): If you can't fit a design on a single sheet of paper (8.5 x 11), you don't understand the system; don't program anything until you do; keep asking questions and learning.
You can do art and IT, but it is hard to do them at the same time. At least, I never could. Have fun!
/ᐠ.｡.ᐟ\