I’m in my 50’s and I don’t want to be forsaken. Yet those of us who are a part of Generation X seem to be.

Since Baby Boomers and Millennials are the most talked about generations these days, I often wonder about the fate of Generation X (those of us who were children in the 70s, teens in the 80s, young adults in the 90s, and became full grown in the 2000s) and how we figure into the generational conversation. 

Have we been forgotten?

Surely that can’t be the case, but the overculture has a way of making a sista feel like a generational outcast just because she’s stuck between two of the largest generations that our society has ever encountered.

According to the Pew Research Center,

With immigration adding more numbers to its group than any other, the Millennial population is projected to peak in 2036 at 81.1 million.

For a few more years, Gen Xers are projected to remain the “middle child” of generations – caught between two larger generations of the Millennials and the Boomers.

Baby Boomers have always had an outsized presence compared with other generations. They were the largest generation and peaked at 78.8 million in 1999.

It’s been on my mind a lot lately, especially since I started blogging again. I find myself in a space where I don’t see a lot of women my age blogging or wanting an influential online presence. 

All I see are younger women sprinkling their magic all over the place.

It can be sorta intimidating and lonely.

(Fabulous social media accounts intimidate the heck outa me. And I’m sorta an introvert who, at times, begrudgingly makes herself come out of her shell when she has to. And living in a shell can be a lonely place at times.)

Society puts youth on a pedestal because it’s tech-savvy, hot, fresh, hip, cool, and relevant in many outlets from the job market to the media, especially the Internet. It’s often praised and given the upper hand because it’s what our society values. No one generation is perfect, but millennials are closer to it by the mere fact that they’re the first to have grown up in the digital age. 

But the thing is, I am not old. And I certainly don’t feel old. I actually consider myself tech-savvy, hot, fresh, hip, cool, and relevant, at least in my world. 

Side Note: For as long as I can remember, I’ve embraced technology from the first cable service, Prevue, that my family had in the 70s to showing Nana how to use her Texas Instrument computer in the 80s. I was a WordPerfect expert by the time I graduated from college in 1990. I’ve had a cell phone since 1995. And I used to facilitate live video-conferences and distance learning programs in the late 90’s. This has gotta count for something!

My life experience spans almost 5 decades and puts me in a different headspace than many of my younger counterparts or so I think. 

Age ain’t nothing but a number so don’t let it define your movement, expectations, or thinking.

It gives me pleasure to tout my age and the wisdom and experience that comes with it, but I’m also encouraged by the concept of being ageless. (I love Fly, Hip, and Ageless, a cool FB page that promotes the concept.)

via GIPHY

(Thanks, Aaliyah. I needed that reminder.)

If age was more than a number and really meant something to me, I wouldn’t have started GonegGirlGo or put myself out there. Seriously, since I’ve been on this blogging journey, I can honestly say that I’m staying current, feeling vibrant, and being ageless as a result of several factors:

• When I decided to breathe life into my ideas, it breathed life into my soul and spirit.
• I challenged myself to learn new things some of which are really hard and complex.
• I put myself in uncomfortable situations just to see what the outcomes would be.
• I’m becoming more of the woman God created me to be.
• I’ve taken on a mindset that gives me permission to reinvent myself and challenge my assumptions as I enter different stages of life.

Although there are no guarantees that I’ll stay vibrant for the rest of my life, perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a way to future-proof it. 

Future-proofing = the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing the effects of shocks and stresses of future events.

This reminds me. I recently read an excerpt from a book called Stretch: How to Future-Proof Yourself for Tomorrow’s Workplace*, by Karie Willyerd. She mentions megatrends that will impact our future and what we need to do to future-proof ourselves in the workplace. I suspect that these megatrends will impact more than our future at work, but also our overall lives. Every generation should consider how to future-proof itself against:

• Globalization
• Demographic shifts
• An explosion of data
• Emerging technologies
• Climate change
• Redefined jobs
• Complexity

(Sorry for digressing, but that seemed like a good place to insert that tidbit of info.)

Now back to the focus of this post.

If age ain’t nothing but a number and you want to remain ageless, try a few of these ideas:

• Make that one idea you’ve been holding back blossom.
• Remain teachable.
• Learn a new technology.
• Make self-care a priority.
• Do something that you’ve never done before on a regular.
• Remain open-minded.
• Stay active.
• Jump rope.
• Embrace uncertainty.
• Reinvent your style.
• Take a college course.
• Never give up.
• Develop relationships with younger people.
• Use your creative juices often.
• Challenge your assumptions about everything.
• Learn a new language.
• Do more stuff that makes you smile and laugh.
• Go see the world.
• Examine your beliefs about aging.

I could say more about each of these ideas, but I think I’ll let them sit there for you to mull over. Plus, I’ve said enough already.

Which ideas about being ageless are you willing to try? Which ideas seem too far-fetched? What other ideas do you have about remaining ageless? I can’t wait to hear from you about this post. Take a moment over the next couple of days to reflect on these questions in your journal. If you want to share, leave your comments below, on Facebook, or email me at zoe@gonegirlgo.com.