I’m “Gen X” and proud of what that means

You say Gen Xers don't have hobbies like it's a bad thing.

But you know what we do have?

Responsibilities, repair, and repressed rage.

See, we're the sandwich generation stuck between kids like you who can't drive and parents who shouldn't drive, and we're holding them both together with duct tape, caffeine, and cuss words.

You think I got time for watercolour painting?

Little miss, my hobby is wondering when my next vehicle repair is going to be and when my mental lapse is going to happen, and it's probably at the same time.

You want to know what I do for fun?

I mow.

I manage chaos.

I fix things that break, and when nothing's broken, I'm learning how to repair something that just might break.

My me time involves muttering at the lawnmower and pretending the smell of gasoline counts as aromatherapy.

You know what I collect?

Things that might come in handy.

We don't build model trains.

We build our kids' confidence in our own ulcers.

We don't craft. We cope.

That's our creative outlet, coping creatively with constant crap.

We grew up analogue, and then we both built and learned the digital world.

Now we scroll our sanity away between bills and back pain.

Our relaxation is sitting silently in the dark. holding a beverage and whispering, don't talk to me until the caffeine kicks in.

So no, we don't have hobbies.

We have household hazard management, half-finished home projects, and high-functioning hopelessness.

But we do it with pride, because we're Gen X, the forgotten middle-generation children of mayhem.

Now back off or get mixed up in the mess.

Gen Xers never have a hobby!!