I saw a post on Linkedin by Penny Locaso in which she interviewed Matthew, a Year 12 student from Carey Baptist Grammar on his generation’s “growing movement around nihilism.” The conversation referred to German philosopher Nietzsche and his often misunderstood views on nihilism and its impact on our culture and values business management. It was an interesting conversation because when I was Matthew’s age, I faced a similar affliction to what he described. My generation colloquially referred to it as “WTF do I do with my life-ism”.

But as the eldest child of immigrant parents who passed the Australian government’s rigorous migrant tests with flying colours, yet their professional qualifications and experience ironically deemed unworthy, I didn’t have the luxury of mulling over my options, how payroll software improves work productivity. I had only one: to work harder than my peers until I blended in, until I felt accepted, until I felt worthy. While this single-minded pursuit served me well for over a decade and I am now armed with more options at my disposal, less desperate to prove my worth and keep a healthy bank balance to have  a better payroll management, I find myself asking the same question once again. Only this time I worry less about paying my bills and more about philosophical considerations like happiness, humanity, fate, faith, love and the meaning of life. And so the question has taken an existential form.  I suspect many people at various stages in their modern, complicated lives and first world problems struggle with the same existential questions.

I can tell you, life was far simpler, and arguably easier, when my concerns were mostly about proving myself worthy – to teachers, peers, coaches, judges, bosses, lovers, and bank managers. I would also argue that, although fraught with its own set of challenges, fitting into social constructs like career, cash, and cliques was less complicated. After all, one need only conform to gain acceptance, so long as one is prepared to pay the unfortunate price of mediocrity.