Meredith’s Reviews > Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis > Status Update

Calhoun: Generation X women are told incessantly that they should do — or should have done — things differently in order to get what they want. Still, however many times you make a vision board or try to magic a partner or a baby or money or success into your life, sometimes it doesn’t happen. And that’s not necessarily because you didn’t try hard enough.

Calhoun: I am no longer drawn to men who find responsibility and authority comical.

Calhoun: If you say, ‘Would you prefer the fish or the chicken,’ but the chicken is on top of a mountain, and it’s raining, while the fish is right in front of you under a tent, can that meaningfully be described as a choice?

Calhoun: Some women who “have it all” may see their children awake ninety minutes or less per weekday.

Calhoun: One of the main problems in making dreams come true? They cost money.

Calhoun: Women’s midlife crises tend to be quieter than men’s. Sometimes a woman will try something spectacular, but more often she sneaks her suffering in around the edges of caretaking and work.

Calhoun: Whether to identify as Gen X is a decision every woman must make for herself, but I believe that if, like me, you were a kid in the Reagan years, had a Koosh ball, or know what sounds a dial-up modem makes, you count.