Still Adapting: A Gen X Story

If you’re Gen X, chances are you’ve seen the memes about us.

You know the ones. We that say we drank from the garden hose. We rode our bikes all over town. We disappeared for hours at a time (didn’t tell our parents where we were heading) and most of the time made it home when the streetlights came on. We learned to entertain ourselves, solve our own problems, and figure things out long before Google, YouTube, and smartphones existed. I mean we really didn’t have any other choice.

As I sit here and think about it, the more I realize the hose was never really the point.

The point was that we figured out how to adapt and do it ourselves.

Need to get somewhere? Figure it out.

Need to learn something? Figure it out.

Need to solve a problem? Figure it out.

For better or worse, that’s how Gen X grew up.

Let’s fast forward a decade or 4, and here we are. No longer 10 but in our 50’s…

The bikes have been replaced by cars. The hose has been replaced by iced coffee and maybe an adult beverage or 2 in the evening. We no longer wander the neighborhood looking for adventure. Instead, we wander the internet trying to learn whatever new thing life has dropped in our laps this week.

And we as a generation are still doing exactly what we’ve always done. We’re figuring it out.

This week alone, I found myself figuring out things about a new digital marketing course that starts on Monday, researching wellness companies using AI to brainstorm ideas, sending customer emails, and working on content for my business. All while dreading jury duty and popping ibuprofen like Flintstone’s vitamins.

Twenty years ago, I couldn’t have imagined doing any of those things.

But, the world changes, Technology changes. (we are no longer on the Oregon Trail), the tools we’re using change, but like always we adapt.

Gen X often gets overlooked in conversations(not that we are we’re used to it). The headlines tend to focus on Boomers, Millennials, or Gen Z. Meanwhile, Gen X quietly keeps moving forward. If we didn’t nobody else would do it.

We learn the new software. We’ve figured out social media. We build websites. We’ve learn video editing. We use AI. Like we always have, we adapt

Not because we necessarily love every new platform or trend that comes along, but because we’ve spent our entire lives learning how to work with what we’ve got.

That’s what we did as kids, it’s what we we still do now. I kinda think it’s our super power.

Not being the loudest generation.

Not being the trendiest generation.

Just being the generation that quietly figures it out. Like we’ve always done.

So no, we don’t drink from the hose anymore. I mean we would if we had to.

Now we stay hydrated with iced coffee, water bottles, and whatever else gets us through the day.

But at our core, we’re still those kids who learned to be resourceful, resilient, and adaptable.

The tools may have changed.

But we haven’t. And we won’t #genx