We hear a lot of chatter from baby boomers, yet we don’t hear much from the generation that followed us – GEN X. Seems GEN Xers are to some degree in crisis. They are the “Tweeners” between boomers and the Millennials.
Forgotten and really feeling it.
Generation X is those born from 1965-1980 – some 15 years akin to 18 years of baby boomers. They were born right after us. Like us a decade ago, they are in mid-life wondering what to do with the rest of their lives. They’ve raised their kids, taken care of their parents; built careers, or wished they had, and spent a lifetime serving others. They are also facing retirement or are jobless wondering what’s next and how to survive. It is a tough time to be a GEN Xer.
I believe GEN X women have it harder than GEN X men or perhaps they each struggle in entirely different ways. Because they are women, they’ve always had to be all things to all people. They’ve gotten the lion’s share of household duties, child-rearing, civic activities, and volunteer work. They’ve had it all on their shoulders.
This is not to say GEN X men aren’t having a tough go of it too. I see the biggest problem for men is unemployment at mid-life faced with the challenging option of what to do next. I have a friend, an accomplished engineer, age 60, who was recently laid off from a supplier to the auto industry. He’s in shock, wondering how to reinvent himself and hanging on. I was in the same spot in 2011 at age 56 laid off from a publishing company I had been with for 20 years. Investors stepped in and my long-standing career went up in smoke. I chose to continue doing what I had been doing for 30 years. I stayed with it at the suggestion of a long-time mentor of mine. I still write.
Baby Boomers have already passed mid-life. We are 60+ and in denial. We deny being “old” people yet that is exactly where we are – old… When we were 20-30, we thought of those in their sixties – our parents and elders – as “old” and there’s no denying it. It is what and where we are and that’s okay. There’s a lot to be said for not having a choice. A lot of our fellow Hoosiers didn’t. They are gone from this world.
GEN Xers are still in mid-life and struggling with where they fit in generational history. They’re not old and they are surely not young anymore. Seems GEN Xers have lost their own identity as people – a generation lost. They’ve put in the time and done the grind yet wonder what they have to show for it. The result is depression, loneliness, and that age-old obligation to those to whom they are responsible – family, close friends, neighbors, and coworkers.
I’ve found GEN Xers struggle with the same issues baby boomers did in mid-life – burnout from work overload, waning self-confidence, feeling like they’ve missed the cruise ship of happiness, and wondering what happened to their dreams. There’s a lot of self-reflection that comes with mid-life.
So, what to do?
Now is the time to chart a fresh course toward what you want to do with the rest of your life. Not enough of us have. Boomers and GEN Xers never really saved or planned for retirement because it was always way off in the future. We never gave it enough thought. Retirement doesn’t have to mean broke. It can mean a new chapter where you do things you’ve always dreamed of doing. Take what you love doing and earn a living doing it.
You may have put your own dreams aside for the good of the marriage or family and are wondering what happened. Putting your marriage and family first is never a bad thing. You’ve done what you were supposed to do. But now it is time for you. It is time for the things you’ve always wanted to do despite putting yourself aside for so long. This applies mostly for women but can also apply for men.
If you are in your fifties, you have time to put a renewed life together to achieve a better quality of life. For some of you, it can mean moving on. To move on, be ready for the emotional aspects of ending a long-term marriage and charting a new, yet frightening unknown path. Perhaps it is time for the two of you to rediscover each other and chart a fresh path of togetherness.
Where there is breath – there is hope.
Boomer Journey... 