Generation Xers Facing Down Their Impending Mid-Life Crisis

[methodwriter85]

So, Generation X (generally defined as the people born from 1965 to 1980, but some definitions include people born in the first half of the 60's) is getting ready to move towards middle age. Derided as a generation of Latch-key slackers in their youth, how does this generation handle their entry into mid-life? This Salon.com article ponders as such:
Generation X gets really old: How do slackers have a mid-life crisis?

      I feel like we've been bombarded by the media and in the arts about the Baby Boomers and their entry into middle-age (American Beauty seems like the defining mid-life crisis movie for that generation), so I'm looking forward to seeing another perspective as the vanguard of Gen X turns 40. (With the older members crossing into 50-something territory.)

     I do think they've got a lot interesting things going on- they were a generation that hasn't been defined by a war, an assassination, or major social upheaval.

     I like their argument that it was the divorces of the 1970's as well as the recession of the early 1990's and then, of course, The Great Recession that really defined who Gen Xers are as a people.

    I've always kind of looked up to Generation Xers as like the cool older brothers and sisters in their flannels and techno speak, so it's going to be cool to see how they define middle-age as opposed to their Boomer counterparts.

[W_L]

Nah, our generation, Generation Y, is way cooler, we got the internet, gay marriage, 9/11, and had highest rates of unemployment with the Great Recession due to low hiring rates that persisted for 3 years. We are a weird generation that is kind of depressing on some levels; brilliant on others.

 

Xers can be summed up with this from the Simpsons as they really were the MTV generation, we're more internet youtube driven:

 

[Bill W]

We all have to face it sooner or later.  Just do it with grace and style.  

[DynoReads]

     I do think they've got a lot interesting things going on- they were a generation that hasn't been defined by a war, an assassination, or major social upheaval.

 

     I like their argument that it was the divorces of the 1970's as well as the recession of the early 1990's and then, of course, The Great Recession that really defined who Gen Xers are as a people.

How can I answer this without being political? I feel that the two sentences I quoted are wrong. No wars? I was aware of many wars growing up and in my early adult years. Assassinations? There were some, and many unsuccessful attempts. Social upheaval? Well, staying out of politics, we are the computer generations. The first generation for computers to be affordable to most people, and not take up entire floors of buildings.

 

Writing this I think that maybe my generation has been defined by upheaval. We don't have the major midlife crises that result in trophy spouses and Harley motorcycles in the garages because we never had time to become comfortable and stagnant. Life: job market, economy, technology, etc. changes so fast that we are always adjusting.

 

As to how I'm entering the later 40's and 50's, the same as before, rapidly adjusting my plans and goals to the world around me.

[Tom]

Mid life crisis???  frankly, I've been in a crisis my whole life.  why should I add another layer just because life wasn't what I was told it was gonna be?

 

if anyone tells me I'm old enough to have a mid-life crisis, I'm gonna sit on them till they take it back

 

Hugs,

  Tom