That sounds so horrifying for an elementary schooler to witness. Did y'alls teachers actually show you guys this on tv?

Colorectal cancer among people in their 40's is skyrocketing. This recent health fad of obsessing over protein and eating nothing but meat and dairy with almost no fiber is going to kill us. You need fiber, folks. You need a complete diet with grains and tons of vegetables.

There are high protein sources that also have great fiber content if you absolutely MUST have your high protein diet. Lentils, beans, peas. Sprouted grain bread.

Let's spread the great word of fiber to our fellow millenial friends and get ahead of this growing epidemic among our generation.

Tues morning edit: Holy ballsack batman! This is helllllllllllllla overwhelming in the best possible way. I honestly expected just a handful of people to see this and respond with maybe like 'tears in heaven' or something. But this is an epic fucking list so far. From the bottom of my cold darkened millennial heart, thank you. One of these upcoming days the nerd in me needs to rank all these and see what's most popular mostly cuz I find it amazing and hilarious how often butterfly by crazytown gets mentioned. I'll get to comments and chats one of these days, promise.

Y'all are thoughtful, kind, empathetic, and funny as fuck. All to a stranger. I love it. I genueinly think it's a hallmark of our generation. To quote one of my patron saints in life, Mr Fred Rogers: “You've made this day a special day, by just your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.”

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Tldr: Apparently I'm dying and need playlist ideas for when the end comes. Mushy, hilarious, dark humor, meaningful, terrible. You name it! Wanna virlbe out to the good vibes I had back in those days

Out of left field docs gave me an unexpected prognosis and seems the offramp from My So Called Life is way shorter than I would have expected.

One of the unusual suggestions from the team was to make a Playlist to listen to in the last days. And honestly that sounds dope since I essentially have music playing 24/7 in my normal non dying life.

I'm not telling anyone IRL (besides my care team and therapist) about what's going on, but since brain wise we tend to latch on to junior high and high school era music, I thought I'd bug y'all for suggestions. I'm open to mushy stuff that I can reflect upon life stuff, as well as hilarious and highly inappropriate or dark humor stuff. Or just some Hella dope tunes to vibe with.

My only ban is My Heart Will Go On. Love me some Celine, but that song will send me to a early grave. (Too soon?)

Thanks fam!

(Obligatory be your own advocate with doctors if you know something isn't right. Also make a will. We should all have them by now. Better yet, make a trust so your Pokémon cards stay out of probate and no nosey folks know what you had or who you gave it to. Do your advanced directive with your doctor or insurance. It's your choice if they keep you plugged in like a toaster or not. It's also OK to haunt your enemies from the beyond. My therapist said so.)

Hi all! I’m an elder millennial (1981) and a stage 3 colon cancer survivor. I was diagnosed last year at age 43 with almost no symptoms. I just spent the last few days in DC advocating for increased research and funding. Many of the people I was lobbying with got colorectal cancer in their 20s and 30s.

My story: I had a little bit of blood in my poop. Like a tiny bit. My doctors checked and told me I had hemorrhoids (I did). But I insisted on a colonoscopy because I had never had bleeding before. Luckily my GI was open to it and put in the order and because “I would have to get a colonoscopy in a couple years anyway.”

If I had waited a couple years I would be dead. During my colonscopy they found a small tumor that was cancer. A couple weeks later I had part of my colon and rectum removed in a major surgery that had a 2 month recovery. They found that the cancer was stage 3 and had spread to my lymph nodes. Though I was technically cancer free after surgery, I still did months of “preventative chemo” afterwards to kill off any microscopic cancer. The chemo was brutal but I did it all and I’m glad I did. I’m now almost 6 months in remission with clear scans and blood tests. I have a 10-15% chance of recurrence but that drops with every clear scan. I’m a mom and I want to see my kid grow up.

I want to stress a few things.

One: I had hardly any symptoms at all, and when I had just one mild symptom my cancer was already stage 3 and had spread. The most common symptom for early colon cancer is no symptoms. I was told the tumor was likely in my body for 5-10 years without me knowing.

Two: I have no known risk factors for this cancer. I am thin and eat well. I exercise and have a healthy lifestyle. No family history. No cancery genetic markers.

Three: my doctors all tell me they have no idea why colorectal cancer is skyrocketing in young people. You can theorize all you want but until we have more funding for more research we won’t know why. I have met vegans, teetotalers, personal trainers who got colon cancer at a young age.

Right now colorectal cancer is increasing at 3 PERCENT PER YEAR in folks under 50. That’s crazy. The screening age for colonoscopies in the US is 45. That means insurance won’t cover a colonoscopy for younger people unless you have a good reason (like symptoms or family history.) In older age groups the rate of occurrence is dropping because they get screened. We don’t get screened until it’s too late for us.

So what do you do to prevent getting colorectal cancer, which is a preventable disease?

Well, if you graduated high school in a year starting with 19, you should be or should soon be eligible for a 45+ colonoscopy that is covered by insurance. Just do it. No excuses.

If you’re under 45, which most of us still are, there are a couple options. One, you can lie. No one is going to check your family history if you say your mom or dad had precancerous polyps, but they will refer you for a colonoscopy earlier. Two, you should report ANY digestive symptoms you have and ask for a colonoscopy. It doesn’t have to be bleeding. Symptoms can also be weird poop (who doesn’t have weird poop sometimes?), abdominal pain, bloating, or weight loss. If you have any of these without a clear cause, ask for a colonoscopy.

And yes, I know a lot of you are afraid to go under anesthesia and get a camera up your butt. Trust me, it’s pretty easy, the drugs are great, and it’s way easier than cancer treatment. You could always go the poop in a box test route but please be clear: that test is NOT GOOD at detecting precancerous polyps that will turn into cancer in the future. It only really reliably detects actual cancer and blood in your stool.

Colorectal cancer is PREVENTABLE if you have polyps detected and removed. Actually preventable. You cannot say that for most other cancers.

It’s going to take a lot of research and advocacy and money to get them to lower the screening age more and that will likely take a long time. In the meantime we need to protect ourselves and look out for ourselves.

And if anyone comments that I’m being alarmist, kindly STFU and Google colorectal cancer in younger people. This is now the number 1 cancer killer in people under 50. We thought we would reach that milestone in 2030. It happened last year instead, 5 years earlier than initially projected. Look out for your health and your life and GET SCREENED.

If you have any questions, please ask and I will answer.

Seriously. F*** the DARE program. It worked on me. I was always afraid of getting in trouble. I judged people who used cannabis as burnouts. Finally introduced at the age of 35 and I feel cheated. I’ve done a ton of reading and studying now and I want to share it with everyone.

Anyone else hit especially hard by the loss of James Van Der Beek? I wasn’t even a fan of Dawson’s Creek, but the man was an undeniable icon for millennials. RIP, James.

How many of us out there actually avoid enganging with any form AI at all costs? Like even if it is more inconvenient? I understand it can be useful for certain things that it does very well but I would NEVER allow it to use my likeness to make a fun little picture or use those therapy AI services. I don't even ask it basic questions (it just wasn't how I was taught to research topics). I can't be the only one

UPDATE: After reading so many responses I have come to my own conclusions about AI. There are several different kinds with their own purposes.

I want to break them down into different categories or questions for which I think will help me navigate whether I should continue to stay away:

Category 1: where is it the most accurate and productive for me? Do I benefit? it is useful for coding and the like. Data crunching, statistics, visualization tools it appears to be fantastic for these uses

2: is it productive for someone else at my (literal) expense? Different AI features in phones and social media whose goal is to data mine as much as of your personal interests or habits as possible to be able to market and pull as much of your dollars away from you as possible. An example of this may be the Snapchat AI friend that you cannot delete

3: is it inaccurate but not harmful? Example being Google summaries. They can be annoying because you have to verify the content it is summarising anyway, making it sort of pointless?

4: is it inaccurate and/or unregulated and could those qualities be potentially harmful? The most prominent one that comes to mind are these new AI "therapist" services.

Obviously it is important for me to realise that not all AI should be considered equally. But we also have to be critical about why so many companies are jumping on the AI bubble and why is it so unregulated?? Why is it unleashed onto the public so quick and so readily available when society at large is not question these AIs?? Also I worry about the future state of younger developing minds growing reliant on these AI- they won't learn to think or find the answers for themselves in the traditional ways that society always has. And who is benefitting if we don't approach these services with any caution and we lose our abilities to think, read and write for ourselves? It makes me think but I am glad I asked

The amount of colon cancer posts I see weekly are causing me concern. I'm 39. Do I have colon cancer? Does everyone have colon cancer? I have no idea. My brain makes me believe I'm dying. I ate pretty unhealthly most of my life, especially in my childhood, but cleaned it up significantly around 30. I have started eating a lot of fiber every day this year. This year I also started a 100% whole foods diet which I will continue. Please everyone take care of your bodies. The chemical concoctions they tell us is "food" are killing us. Eating the standard american diet is a route to early death. You must start eating whole foods only, fruits, vegetables, berries, greens, eggs all everyday, eat meat but no processed meats ever, no bacon, no alcohol ever. This is my strategy. Good luck.

No amount of fiber will ever cure my craving for delicious hose juice 💦 🤤

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWnITC6j-Xi

Like many of you, I’m sure, I have a father who suffered horrific physical childhood abuse and he never dealt with it. I remember so many nights where we were all woken up by his screaming from night terrors. He was a good father but a difficult person, never abusive but emotionally explosive and a guilt sufferer. When he retired he “lost himself” and became a depressed, bitter, explosive shell of a person. He and I always had a very frictional sort of relationship because he stressed me out, especially after he retired. At times I hated him. He had no zest for life, he just sucked the joy out of anything.

I could go on but I feel sure some of this is similar to your own families. My father is of the generation that would “never go to therapy” and “never try an antidepressant.”

Well, after many years of pressure my mother and I finally got him to try an antidepressant by approaching his doctor to suggest it.

Oh my god, I can’t even count the ways how it has helped him and my relationship with him. After 10 months he has energy again - he wants to go dancing with my mom. He is a pleasure to call and chit chat with because he is always excited about some new thing now. We never fight anymore. He loves life, his zest is back, he’s reading again. The bitterness is gone. I love him and cannot even remember why I ever felt like I didn’t.

I’m so glad to have my best years with my father now, in the autumn of his life. I’m so glad I got this chance.

My father won’t admit it was the antidepressant, but he did apparently recommend trying it to his friend. My mom overheard him on the phone.

Anyway, I don’t know where I’m going with this, except to say, if you have a parent like this and you wish they would just TRY a damn antidepressant, don’t give up… I’m so glad my father did.

Edit: Just want to add that my father has Parkinson’s as well and the way we got him to finally try an antidepressant was by writing a message to his neurologist asking him to bring it up. The neurologist then told my father that Parkinson’s does cause depression and anxiety and he recommended the antidepressant. This is what finally caused him to listen; I think older men take it more seriously if it comes from their doctor.

Edit 2: For those asking why the doctor didn’t suggest talk therapy instead, or worrying about long term side effects of a pill, remember this is a 73 year old man with comorbidities, not a 20 year old with his whole life ahead of him. The point of my post was for those of us with depressed, senior parents to remember that antidepressants are a fairly quick and easy solution to try for people who don’t have many years left.

For those asking what antidepressant my dad takes, it’s Lexapro 10 mg, but remember what works for him might not work for your parent.

I recently went to a hibachi with my wife and toddler for dinner. We were sat with a group of eight 17-20 year olds at a communal grill on a busy night. No problem for us. Drink and appetizers service go normally. Toddler and wife are happy, I’m happy. The other group is having their own conversations. I’m just trying to keep my kid entertained. I’m a former bartender and have a habit of picking up on snippets of conversations in a crowd around me. Yes I know I eavesdrop. I can’t turn it off. It’s a habit of a former profession. One of the girls/women at the table stated, “I don’t think Rosa Parks was real.” I’m not sure what her friends said to her but she responded with “I just don’t think she said existed.” This went on for about a minute. I couldn’t hold back and let her know she was absolutely a real person, she is a civil rights icon. I learnt about her in school and so did my parents. The encounter put a wall up between our groups and I heard a few passive aggressive “so-and-so wasn’t real” comments from mostly her and a couple of the group. Harriet Tubman and Hellen Keller are two that I definitely heard. My wife had no idea why I interjected. After the group had left my wife asked what happened and was shocked when I told her what happened. Were they trolling? Are they stupid? Am I just getting old?

36M here, have always been active and maintained a decently healthy diet my whole life. Well after seeing multiple posts on here and at my gf’s urging I had one done. They found two polyps (15mm and 4mm). Doc said if I waited till 45 I’d prob be dead. Crazy part is I had no symptoms and my recent blood work last month was perfect. I was in and out in three hours and no pain or discomfort afterwards.

This last weekend brought several more deaths and major cancer diagnosis to people in their 40's. It's been such a surreal few months where one after another people who were in their prime suddenly just either weren't there or are dealing with cancer diagnosis. I realize I am 44 but this seems way too young to be seeing this trend. These are all people in my network and it's simply incredibly shocking.

My 14 year old daughter is what we'd describe now as ALT, as in Alternative. A combo of Box Lunch and Hot Topic store wise but not Emo.

Don't ask me how, I don't know but 2 weeks ago she was all, "hey do you know the band WEEZER?" Uh... Yeah... I do. She said they were pretty good, so she's been deep diving into millennial music and she's discovered our angsty genre side. She came to me for recommendations and this is what I have for her: - AFI (lots) - A Perfect Circle - Story of the Year - 30 Seconds to Mars - Panic at the Disco - All American Rejects - 10 years (Wasted)

I'm drawing a blank on stuff. Music hasn't been my niche, movies are. I can't remember songs or bands. She says she's enjoying the hard rhythms and the way they make you FEEL related to. I know what she's talking about but I'm struggling. Back me up with this please! I'll be making a list as much as possible tonight.

Context: married, about to have a kid, fully remote, 33M.

Like for real?

6am: wake up and check chats from the previous day and quick news updates, small breakfast.

6:30: walk around neighborhood with wife and dog

7: start work

12: 1 hour lunch

4: another walk

4:30: if energy allows, 30 min quick workout

5: shower and chill for a bit, wind down from work

7: dinner

9: exhausted and ready for bed

I have the 2 walks to counteract the 8 hours I spend in front of a computer. My real only leisure time is between 5:30 and 7 and I feel already exhausted at that point.

On weekends I’m usually too tired to go out. Plus, I feel I end up dedicating like 50% of my weekends to just chores, which just gets me more tired.

I have a little voice in the back of my head telling me there’s something wrong and life can’t be just this non-stop until I’m 70.

Am I the only one on this boat? Am I overreacting?

EDIT: no need to be mean 😅 I seem to have left out the fact I have high functioning autism, not sure that collaborates to this. Looking forward to having my kid in May and having my wife are quite literally the only 2 things keeping me going. It’s not that I don’t want to do anything, I just seem to be missing all will to do anything and feel chronically tired 100% of the time. So every time I try to take advantage of time that is not work, I really just can’t.

As per these comments, I’ll get some blood tests… 🥲

I’ve really been struggling with this as I approach my 31st birthday. It is hard to reconcile with the that I had the potential to do SO MUCH with my life and so far…I’ve somehow only made one mess after the other. I just keep feeling like “how have 10 years passed and how did I let things get this bad?”

I would like to hear some other perspectives on this because I feel like this is a more common issue than people would like to admit sometimes.

EDIT: In response to comments referencing young elementary age, that is not necessarily what I’m talking about. When I reference being “gifted” I’m not talking about the fun little elementary programs. I’m talking about taking multiple AP classes at a time, dedicating all of my free time in high school to being successful, very high SAT scores, multiple legitimate awards, potential to go to almost any college within financial reason (to name a few). I worked my ass off for all of that and then I just…stopped.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. We (millennials) have the largest gap in personal photographic records of any generation in the modern age. Not because we didn’t take photos but because we lost them.

We lived through that weird in-between era: - Too late for shoeboxes full of printed Kodak photos - Too early for iCloud, Google Photos to back everything up - Right in the middle of MySpace, Photobucket, Friendster, and early Facebook—with no one thinking to archive anything

I’m talking about: -Crappy digital cameras with SD cards that vanished in a move - Old flip phones and Razrs with tiny, pixelated videos of high school parties - College photos that lived only on a laptop that died in 2011 - Entire friendships and phases of our lives lost with the deletion of a MySpace account

We documented everything, but most of it is gone. Billions of photos, probably. Compare that to Gen Z, who has their whole life in Google Drive or their Snapchat Memories. Or Gen X, who have physical photo albums passed down.

It’s like we lived in the lost city of Atlantis, and no one preserved the artifacts.

Anyone else feel this loss? Have you ever gone searching for a photo from 2007 and realized it’s just… gone

This is really sad and I honestly didn’t know that it’s rapidly killing us. I just learned about this recently. May he RIP

I am turning 37 this year and have entered into perimenopause, a term I encountered for the first time literally only months ago, because it was never once mentioned in public school sex ed or health classes, not once by any gyno I've ever seen and not once by any boomer woman in my life including my own mother and aunts

And I figure I can't be the only one, so yeah, apparently it's a thing that millennials everywhere either are already going through, in some cases without even knowing it or what it even is, or will be going through it soon enough

I only ever heard about menopause, how someday I'd get "hot flashes" and my periods would stop, but actually, for years leading up to perimenopause, it's like puberty 2.0 as the whole system goes absolutely haywire

Anything is possible with the periods themselves (I'm getting them more frequently, but they're shorter and lighter, oh and now there's sometimes pink instead of just bright or rusty red, but the total opposite can happen, less frequent, longer, heavier, or even a totally random surprise mix), oh and mood swings, and jawline zits, just like when I was 15, woohoo

Just saw a post for if you personally know millenials who are millionaires. How about if you personally know millenials who are homeless or have nothing saved?

My 41yo brother has no savings and is in tons of debt, he has no job either. He was homeless but now living in my older brother's basement.

I know a few more people who have zero savings.