The dissatisfaction came in three flavors:
the politics of America were intolerable
the cost of living in America was intolerable
the quality of life in America was intolerable
The third may really be some combination of the first two. How many $18 glasses of natural wine can you drink while friends relay the latest upsetting news they gleaned from X, Instagram, and TikTok…
The story is mostly inspired by my friends who are mostly millennials. There’s something self-effacing about claiming we are lost…at forty. But statistics bear it out, with record-low fertility, marriage rates, and homeownership. This means being lost at forty doesn’t look very much like the midlife crises of generations past.
you are not stuck. you are lost.
Europe is still a primary draw, even though points south and east are more popular destinations than they were in the early twentieth century. With war in the east and political unrest in the west—about immigration, about Palestine, about pensions—it’s hard to ignore the historical rhyming. Meanwhile at home, in America the economy teeters. Whatever roaring twenties we have had so far was mostly driven by the pandemic stimulus package. When the covidbucks stopped, so did consumer spending.
Some change is coming. We can feel it. The irresistible pull.
new things always start out lost.
Do read the whole thing here.
