The Pandemic Midlife Crisis

Book excerpt: Gen X women were overwhelmed and stretched like never before by the COVID-19 pandemic. They were hit hard in all of their many roles--as workers, as caregivers, and more. In this essay collection, 31 midlife women describe their experiences confronting the daily challenges of pandemic life. They are writers, teachers, artists, mothers, daughters, caregivers, activists, friends, and neighbors. Their stories highlight change, flexibility, isolation, connection, loss, and ingenuity, but at the core of each piece is resilience. The Pandemic Midlife Crisis: Gen X Women on the Brink takes readers behind the news headlines of job losses, virtual schooling, and quarantines and into the lives of real midlife women who have found themselves on the brink of so many things during this pandemic: crisis and reinvention, breakdowns and breakthroughs. Within the stories of this collection--the 5th HerStories Project anthology--it is our hope that you'll find the comfort and connection of knowing you are not alone right now.