Transitions

As a child born in the 70s, along with other Gen X's, we all grew up without social media. In 1984, I remember watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games which was being telecast from Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Swamy, our lovely neighbours on the 2nd floor had invited all the children in the apartment complex so that we could watch it live on their colour television. At 4 am at that!

Four decades later, I don't think twice before opening up claude, gemini or GPT to do some research, give me renderings of an apartment design, plan a trip or build out a website for some of the non-profit work that I dabble in.

What a time for our generation to be alive! Reflecting on the changes that have transpired these last few decades, talking to peers or reading about them, the realization is that we Gen X'ers have become good at transitioning. As children, we played, had free time and ran helter-skelter. We built muscle memory for what fun can be like. We developed a strong work ethic because there were no rewards, instant gratification or a dopamine hit for any tasks we did. We carry that work ethic forward and play our part by being enablers, transitioning ourselves or helping others do the same.

We bring the deep experience bordering on cynicism that enables us to make decisions intuitively. Our brains were exposed to colour televisions, dot.net computers, the palm pilot, blackberries, ipods before the smart phones came around in 2013 and changed the era of personal computing. Most of us were in our 30s and we transitioned.

We learnt to transition twenty years ago and today, for many of us, it has become standard operating practice across all facets of our lives.