Way too much fun. That might be our legacy for those who make it their business to deconstruct generations. But what we Baby Boomers had and have going for us, which the Millennials might not, is that we could stop the fun and get to work. Our generational ethos has been the ability to adapt.
In the early 1970s a brutal recesssion shut down the counterculture. We cut our hair, bought professional attire, and spoke the language of business. Many of us did well in corporate America. When we were downsized we hung out shingles. We also did well as entrepreneurs.
Then came another test. That has been the perfect storm of loss of equity in our homes, the hit to our retirement funds, and ageism in hiring or even using us as consultants. Once we embraced those realities we gained access to the work that was there.
The ability to know how to have fun and then have it isn't mutually exclusive with shrewd survival skills. Now that my communications boutique is humming again, I plan to put fun back into my life. This time around, of course, it will be pretty tame stuff. That could be looking for a team to put together a documentary on aging in America.
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