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Gen X Quotes

Browse 14 quotes about Gen X.

Gen X Quotes

“I'm not knocking choices, just saying that having so many of them with so little support has led to a great deal of shame. Being a full and equal partner both at work and at home, having a rich social life, contributing to society, staying in shape - doing all that is exponentially harder than doing any one thing. We asked for more, and did we ever get it. I firmly believe it's fairer. Easier? No.”

“Gen Xers are in 'the prime of their lives' at a particularly dangerous and divisive moment,' Boomer marketing expert Faith Popcorn told me. 'They have been hit hard financially and dismissed culturally. They have tons of debt. They're squeezed on both sides by children and aging parents. The grim state of adulthood is hitting them hard. If they're exhausted and bewildered, they have every reason to feel that way.”

“A meta-analysis of almost two hundred studies conducted in more than fifteen countries found that women are more physically and emotionally exhausted than men, accounting for their higher rates of burnout in many sectors, such as media. "An awful lot of middle-aged women are furious and overwhelmed," wrote Ada Calhoun in a 2016 article titled "The New Midlife Crisis: Why (and How) It's Hitting Gen X Women." What we don't talk about enough is how the deck is stacked against their feeling any other way.”

“Generation X women, who as children lacked cell phones and helicopter parents, came up relying on our own wits. To keep ourselves safe, we took control. We worked hard and made lists and tried to do everything all at once for a very long time without much help. We took responsibility for ourselves--and later we also took responsibility for our work or partners or children or parents. We should be proud of ourselves.”

“If our generation has been told for decades that we have so much freedom, so many choices, such opportunities, the question women with young children face is: how free are we to reach for the stars in midlife if we have someone else depending on us? Especially when our concept of good parenting involves so much more brain space and such higher costs than it did for our mothers and grandmothers? And when we expect ourselves to be excellent, highly engaged parents while also being excellent, highly engaged employees?”

“As a Gen-Xer I had gotten used to abuse. That had to change. As I walked around, I rearranged my life and formulated a secret battle plan. Setting boundaries would upset those who benefited from me not having those. I had to develop what I wanted my future to be. To dream. Then only allow those who shared that vision into my life. This plan was one of the best things I ever did for myself.”

“In between one heartbeat and the next, I know my time in Boomertown is at an end. And not even for my sake or Bailey’s, but for Ace’s. I came, I saw, and unlike Caesar, I did not conquer. But then, I never could have done that, anyway. I think that’s the real secret to the Boomer generation. They gave us a rigged game from the start. Gen X, Millennials and Zoomers played against the house. We were told we could win if we just worked hard enough, but most of us have lost out in some way or another.”