Posted on 05/16/2024 4:32:52 PM PDT by Drew68
The midlife for today's Millennial (and younger) generations are likely to be much different, absent many of these markers that the previous generations had.
“”””For Baby Boomers, the midlife crisis was very nearly a rite of passage. John Updike made a career of chronicling the earthquakes that rattled the mannered world of upper-middle-class suburbanites. But that world of well-scrubbed children, stay-at-home wives, and afternoon cocktails seems as remote today as King Arthur’s court.””””
That seems confusing, boomers were hitting their 40s and 50s well into the 2000s, in fact up until the last 10 years, not the 60s and 70s.
Depends on their upbringing. Can't argue with much of the article, as we lived the boomer life, getting married young and building a life together. Now that my grown children are in mid-life (over 40), they aren't much different. For me, it was a green T-top convertible sports car, though going to office work with a briefcase on a subway train. My wife got more use out of the car than me, getting stopped by cops while picking up the kids from high school.
Grown kids in their 40's each have a home and their own kids and doing well, without mid-life crisis moments like getting a sports car. Instill good values and you won't have to worry.
Bkmk
True. 1946 through 1964 is the generally accepted boomer range, so plus 40 would be 1986 and later.
I suppose if you're a Millennial, everyone older than you is a Boomer.
It's actually mostly Gen-X who are hitting their midlives today and I think the "red sports car/affair/tennis lessons" midlife crisis was personified by the people who hit their midlives in the 60s-70s, the generation that mostly predated Baby Boomers.
Still, the points made are valid. You can't have a midlife crisis if you've never really had a life.
For me, it was a full 100 watt, all tube, British-made Marshall stack (electric guitar amplifier the size of a refrigerator and as loud as a bomb).
"Why?" my wife shook her head.
Because I always wanted one when I was a kid and now I can afford it. Never mind I'll never be a rockstar and it's entirely too loud for my quiet subdivision.
Oh well, beats having an affair with the secretary, I suppose.
Um. John Updike was not a Baby Boomer.
"In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits...
“Middle Age Crazy” starring Bruce Dern and Ann-Margret.
A married man is turning forty and that’s when the midlife crisis hits him. He becomes obsessed with young women and fast cars.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081157/
Going by post 10, a lot of us hit our mid-life crisis at about age 16.
I know that story well.
Clue #1
A close friend of ours had a problem with her husband, buying fancy electric guitars and amps and playing in rock bands. My wife and I joked about a man being in his 40s going into his 50s wanting to be a rocker. Well, he had a hidden affair with a young woman who gave birth to his child. Wife didn't find out until ten years later he asked the wife to take in the pre-teen. She took in the pre-teen, and kicked out her husband. My wife said she wouldn't have taken in the girl, wife's friend is too generous.
We were at a baptism a couple weeks ago for my wife's friend's granddaughter, and the old guy ex-husband was there. Broke, but still playing with a rock band while in his 70s.
That sums it up for some people I know.
Guess I must have missed that “mid life crises” thing.
Got married in 1978, still married to the same wonderful wife.
Have 2 kids (one boy-one girl) both college graduates and doing well in their careers.
Outright own 2 homes; one in Northern California—one in Southern California.
Plus 32 acres in Colorado and another 20 acres in Washington state, real estate people keep contacting me to buy them, I just tell them when they get closer to MY price we will talk in person.
Never was interested in fast sports cars, got my dream vehicle just 4 years ago, a Dodge 4 wheel drive RAM 2500 pickup truck.
As to other women, my wife says a lot of the women she knew and a lot of strangers would hit on me when we were out, never noticed it and couldn’t care less.
When you married the BEST, why would you want LESS?
“… John Cheever’s “The Swimmer”
As an aside, Burt Lancaster is great as the disturbed swimmer in the 1968 film.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063663/
I think the “midlife crisis” was mostly a Hollywood and media creation. They spent a lot of ink and film trying to convince the happy suburbanites that they were supposed to be unhappy and act out.
Just like now, convincing Zoomers that life is awful and the planet destroyed.
Yet we live in the richest country in the richest era of all human history.
My kids think they grew up poor in a two bath home. Ridiculous.
Oh, I don't know. I think the divorce rate during the 70s-80s speaks volumes.
As a Gen-Xer who was a teen throughout most of the 80s, divorce was rampant. While my parents stuck together, so many of my friend's families split it. And it often happened when one parent engaged in an affair. I recall the active suburban social lives my parents used to have. Lots of parties. Lots of get-togethers. Bowling leagues, bridge clubs, softball teams, block parties.
Of course, parents back then were much younger. Wasn't unusual at all for 16-year-olds to have parents who hadn't even hit 40 yet. A lot of these parents had social lives of their own and found other parents to hook up with and leave their current spouse for. Saw this on several occasions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.