Meet the Manillenials

Meet the Manillenials

They said I should start with a post on how I came up with the idea. Well, being depressed while riding the bus on my home from a job interview doesn’t sound like a good story but that’s actually where it started.

It’s my eureka moment, no matter how subdued. Being stuck in the same job for three years is no fun, and I just wanted to quit. But it jolted me into the realization that hey, it’s been three years! I should at least derive great learnings out of those years right? Writing online content and immersing myself in social media let me explore so much possibilities. And yet I do nothing. So here’s me doing something.

For the past few years, I’ve been floundering. Yes, floundering to be an adult, a responsible one. It’s difficult especially when I seem to grow stagnant from doing the same things repeatedly day after day for years. But there’s comfort in knowing that I’m not alone. As evident from the lunch break tsismisan and random Facebook and Gmail chats, I’m actually surrounded by people who are just as confused. And this is our attempt to turn our twenties’ negativity into something productive.

We are millennials in every sense of the word, except that we’re quite different from the millennials discussed extensively in articles on HuffPost and The New York Times. It seems to be a bit amiss in the Philippines. We’re similar but not quite so. We created this website to make sense of our daily plight as commuters, boarders, minimum wage workers and dreamers in Manila.

In the next few posts we’ll be tackling every topic that a millennial in Manila care about such as career troubles, cheesy movies, weekend travels, relationship dramas, and everything in between. Let’s talk about bad breakups and equally bad music choices. Let’s talk about the difficulty between chasing after your dreams and bringing food to the table.

Here, you won’t find answers on how you can be happy 24/7 or how to be a millionaire in your 20s, because we also don’t know. But maybe in this part of the web we can find out together.  You’re probably thinking, “Hold up! What the heck is a Manillenial?” Well, if you’re reading this on your laptop or (your smart phone!) and you’re living or working in Metro Manila, there’s a good chance that you’re one of us.  Or at least we think you’re one of us because if you got your shit together, you’re one in a million. Basically, we’re the digital generation who grew up with television and cell phones and computers. We’re also based in Metro Manila. Fellow Manillenials try to make it clearer.

What is a Manillenial?

“Manillenials for me is a platform where you can have a clearer view and get a new perspective of what millennial’s life is and how they thrive on instability. You will see here how millennials value relationships, how they aspire to achieve better work-life balance, how they face life’s challenges and adventures, and how they live in pursuit of happiness.” – Jinky

“Life is still beautiful despite struggles of Metro Manila’s young professionals.” – Marco

“Manillenials is a combination of “Manila” and “millennials” or known to be part of the Generation Y. A group of young professionals who does have the heart and passion in everything that they do. They are  the ones who are loaded with ideas and yet, having difficulties to express it. Free-spirited, creative and opinionated are some of their qualities. They are full of dreams and striving for the best to make it possible in any means.” – Iris

“Manillenials are young professionals living the life in the Metro. They’re born in the heights of technology where social networks and gadgets are just ordinary things. They are living in the dreams of yesterday and dreaming to live the lives of people in the past. People can say that they are happy living a comfortable and easy life with all the progress that the world brings in their generation. But they are also wishing to experience a simple and basic life.” – Ninay

“Manillenials is a representation of the young professionals in Metro Manila. It portrays how life in general is like for the millennials. And it opens up a reality based on a day to day basis.” – Eunise

Jane Galvez

Jane Galvez is a ditzy daydreamer and wannabe writer from Makati. She enjoys good sci-fi and cheesy YA. You can read more of her musings on Oh My Janey. She’s also a self-professed fangirl. She rants over here.