Apparently millennials don’t have a midlife crisis, so what’s going on?

We hate to break it to you, but if you’re a millennial, you’re head over heels for middle age.

The oldest of the generation is now about 42 years old (oh, so kindly called geriatric millennials), which also happens to be the prime time for a midlife crisis.

While there is some debate about whether a midlife crisis is real, it is commonly defined as a time when you begin to experience age-related anxiety and depression and begin to reflect on your past life.

But if you look around at your colleagues, you’ll see that no one has wasted all their savings on a little red sports car, and marriages aren’t ruined by deals at work.

So what’s going on?

Well, according to a recent New York Times op-ed, the midlife millennial crisis doesn’t exist. One respondent said that due to multiple financial crashes, political polarization and the global pandemic, “my entire adult life has been one big crisis”.

It seems that millennials are already in perpetual crisis – midlife or not.

Journalist Jessica Grose added: “Instead of yearning for adventure and liberation, [millennials] longed for a sense of security and tranquility they had never known.’

In fact, Jessica points out that when millennials finally achieve everything that comes with middle age (a mortgage, a partner, and kids), “they’re in a whole new phase of life that hasn’t had time to grow. It’s ‘stuffy.’

And even if millennials — aka generation rent — wanted a slump, they still couldn’t afford it.

The article certainly struck a chord, and it seems TikTok agreed with Jessica’s assessment.

In a video that currently has more than 700,000 views, TikToker Jordan said, “Ask a millennial when was the last time they could sit down, relax and not worry about a thing. I promise they’ll think about it.”

And commentators quickly agreed. “Millennials survive here,” said one. While another said, “That explains why so many of us have mental health issues.”

While the article focused on our millennial cousins ​​across the pond, the situation in the UK is not much different.

Money expert Jasmine Birtles told Metro.co.uk: “Young people need help now. We are avoiding another recession, inflation is skyrocketing and the cost of living continues to rise. 19 lockdown.”

The average individual buyer now needs a down payment of £74,402 to buy a home and given the average full-time salary is £31,285 it’s not hard to see there’s a problem.

Millennials also have less savings. Jasmine said: “When costs for rent, food and energy rise, people spend all their income on everyday living – they simply have nothing left to save.

“Even if you manage to hit the highest savings rate, which is currently 4.6%, you’re actually losing money when you factor in an inflation rate of 10.4%.”

All this has had an impact not only on millennials’ bank accounts, but also on their mental health.

Psychologist Emma Kenny says: “There is so much going on in our world and there is so much for people to worry about.

“People with a midlife crisis are analytical, intelligent individuals and they get to the point where they think, ‘Is that it?’ And then they want to make shifts and changes in their life paradigms.

“But a lot of people today don’t have the time or the opportunity to take that break because there’s so much else going on.”

Social media also inevitably play a role.

“People don’t lose each other so easily anymore,” says Emma.

“Because of what we see online, we constantly compare ourselves to the younger generation. Millennials pay a lot of attention to how they look, so they find themselves in a situation where they almost stop time. They look younger and are generally fitter.

“When you combine that with millennials owning homes later in life and waiting to get married and have kids, midlife crises are more likely to be postponed.

“That’s more likely when millennials are retired.”

Will the midlife crisis be replaced by a silverlife crisis?

What a room.