The End Of The “Light At The End Of The Tunnel” Myth + Mental Health Awareness

"There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in," said the great Leonard Cohen. The pandemic created a watershed moment where 91% of Americans now view mental health as “more or just as serious as physical injuries.” In light of May being Mental Health Awareness month, we thought it was appropriate to focus on how we are seeing mental health attitudes shift consumers' values, behaviors, and aspirations.

Also, we wanted to note that we are shifting this newsletter to a bi-monthly release to focus on one emerging shift, followed by stand-out data and articles that may interest you.?

Emerging mental health shift: “The Light End Of The Tunnel” Myth

How often have you said, "I can see the light at the end of the tunnel," or something similar? In our conversations and research, we've started to notice an awakening happening with consumers that the “light at the end of the tunnel” is a false promise. A goal that is never truly within reach because, once you get there, the next thing is already staring you in the face.

It's a challenging mental paradigm to break, as we've been wired to race to the end goal; to sacrifice our wellbeing to reach the final exam, the podium, the promotion, the relationship, and even retirement. Culture propagates this idea of living happily ever after with the rise of marriage proposal TV (i.e., Love Is Blind, The Ultimatum), exiting the “rat race” (i.e., the FIRE movement - “Financial Independence, Retire Early”), and big exits with unicorn startups. But, in an era of transparency, the facades are fading quickly. Entrepreneurs are opening up about startup culture, influencers are burning out, Olympic medalists are losing it, people don't want to retire, and TV relationships crumble.

Core to building resilience and mental wellbeing is consumers' ability to recalibrate to the present moment, live in life's ups and downs, and not just bookends. We explore this more in our upcoming whitepaper around the "Future Of Ambition," defining which old beliefs Americans are putting aside as they re-architect their lives with a new set of values, beliefs, and aspirations.

Why it matters: Consumers are suffering through a dramatic period of existential heaviness. The threats circling our mental health and well-being are at all-time highs. 87% of Americans say they "feel like there has been a constant stream of crises without a break over the last two years."?

Opportunity: Brands want to be authentic, but they don't know where to start. One way is to think about cultivating a culture of transparency, empathy, and vulnerability. How can your brand stop focusing so much on end-goals and linear aspirations (e.g., graduation, home, family, etc.)? How can you consider championing a focus on the joy of living in life’s ups and downs and cultivating a daily sense of personal joy and resiliency?

Recent data on our minds:

• Business leaders are bullish about their future and are preparing themselves for generational value shifts: Our recent 2022 Milken Institute-Harris Poll Listening Project shows that nearly two-thirds (63%) of executives are bullish about the future financial development of their company. Three-quarters of respondents (76%) believe that generational changes in values will impact their business operations.
• Millennials for Billionaires, Gen Z not so fast: Millennials think that billionaires purchasing media companies would be a good thing for free speech on the internet (73%), freedom of the press (72%), and even democracy (71%), but Gen Z is significantly less likely to agree (57%, 59%, 52%).?

What we are reading or listening to:?

• You Were Right About COVID, and Then You Weren’t (The Atlantic)?
• Hollywood’s hot new trend: Parents who say they’re sorry (Vox)
• From Jacquemus to Balenciaga: Luxury fashion brands go hyperphysical (Vogue Business)
• Google is letting you limit ads about pregnancy and weight loss (The Washington Post)
• Two Coinbase employees exchanged NFT rings with their wedding vows (Verge)
• Chatbots May Be Better When It Comes to Giving Consumers Bad News (WSJ)
• We’re living in the golden age of competitive M&M stacking (Food & Wine)
• The Great Resignation is becoming a “Great Midlife Crisis” (Vox)

A lil optimism for your day: What would it look like if we all went out of our way to add more kindness to the world? Maybe something like this: drive-by kindness.

We’d love to hear from you. What has inspired you recently?

-Libby & Abbey, running Harris' Thought Leadership Practice

The Harris Thought Leadership + Futures is an exclusive practice dedicated to building brand authority and fortifying brand leadership positions in the market. We collaborate with clients to design future- forward, credible, creative, and culturally relevant research– so the world looks to your brand for what’s next.