Those of us that grew up in the 1980’s really had to live through and survive much.

We truly had the best of everything. We are referred to as Gen X, cossetted on either side by the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. Apart from being the first generation to experience personal computers, we are also described as having liberal views on social issues and are more ethnically diverse. We are active, happy, and great at achieving work-life balance. We are the generation that grew up in the 1980’s with the best music, and survived the worst fashion of the 1990’s. We knew every single Michael Jackson song by heart, but sadly we also knew Boney M and Goombay Dance Band.

Our suburbs were safe enough to walk to your friend’s house, or zip around on a little 50cc motorbike. We were too young to watch Dallas, but we made up for it with LA Law. And Falcon’s Nest. Not to forget Magnum PI, the Cosby Show and MacGyver. The list goes on. Our worst “naughty” was to try and sneak into a night club or ladies bar by pretending to be older. We knew the trick. At the door they never asked for your age, the always asked for your birthyear. So, all the way to the venue, we would practice saying: I was born in 19whatever. We would arrive at the club, a group of us, all born in exactly the same year. Safety in numbers. It took the bouncers a long time to catch on, and by then, we were the legal age anyway.

What made me reminisce about the 1980’s? A sequence of events. First of all, I stumbled upon a bit of Tik Tok wisdom. It goes like this:

Marriage is hard. Divorce is hard. Choose your hard.

Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.

Working a job you hate is hard. Pursuing your passion is hard. Choose your hard.

Living in fear is hard. Facing your fears is hard. Choose your hard.

Amazing the things one comes across in the middle of the night when for some reason (in my case a very blocked nose) you cannot sleep. Well, this then made me think of that one hit wonder -there were so many of them an the 1980’s, but this one helped me forget about my blocked nose and go back to sleep. It was a song by a German band called Munchener Freiheit. By the time their one hit wonder arrived, they had dropped the Munchener part of their name. Good idea. But, back to the song. It was called Keeping the Dream Alive. The lyrics go like this:

The hopes we had were much too high.

Way out of reach but we have to try.

No need to hide, no need to run.

Cause all the answers come one by one.

The game will never be over because we’re keeping the dream alive.

So, in this lies the challenge. How to choose your hard, yet also keep the dream alive.

Colin and I were reflecting on all the hards we had to choose, and all the dreams we have kept alive. It was one of those moments where we were having a serious discussion about choosing our hards. Now, part of being a Gen Xer, is that you probably had your children in the late 1990’s, early 2000. Back then, there was a program called “Gladiators” on TV. No, it had nothing to do with either Rome or Russel Crowe. This was a program made up of two teams, a red team, and a blue team, and they in turn had to compete against seriously big professionals to overcome certain obstacles. Mostly the gladiators won, but occasionally a little “oukie” would slip through the gauntlet and surprise everyone with his skill and cunning. Whenever one of these brave souls got flattened by Lycra-clad gladiator, there would play a song. I think (and maybe you can help me out here?) it was called I Get Knocked Down. It went like this: I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.

Say what you like about my generation. We get knocked down, then we get up again. We know how to choose our hard and keep the dream alive.

And we can do the Moon Walk. Well, some of us can. Others, unfortunately, only remember the dance moves to Ra-Ra-Rasputin!