-- John Mellencamp’s song about small-town Indiana perfectly captures the pride Gen X Hoosiers feel in their small-town roots and the sense of security that came with growing up in rural areas far removed from big problems. For many of us Gen Xers raised in Midwestern towns, our entire world existed within a 60-mile radius, and stepping beyond that boundary usually meant a vacation, a wedding, or a funeral. Now, with decades of hindsight and plenty of life experience, it’s clear that while that safe, idyllic upbringing had its perks, it also cast a long shadow by limiting our perspectives and the opportunities we even knew were possible. 

- Growing up in Oakland City (population: blink and you missed it), life was predictable. We rode the bus to school during the week, woke up early on Saturdays for cartoons, and attended Sunday church services. The faces around us were familiar, the conversations centered on local happenings, and the furthest horizon most of us could imagine was the next county line. 

- Diversity? That meant piling into a car and heading to Evansville for a trip to the mall which was mainly for school clothes shopping in August and Christmas. Different cultures, religions, or even slightly varied ways of thinking were almost nonexistent in our daily lives. Our understanding of the world came from grainy, outdated school textbooks and the occasional, heavily censored network news broadcast. For me, it was that one friend who had cable TV . The internet, with its endless access to diverse voices and information, was still a distant dream. 

- This limited exposure deeply influenced us and left little opportunity to embrace wider perspectives. We grew up in a familiar environment that felt safe but kept us a bit closed off. Ideas like inequality, global issues, or the many different ways people live seemed far away and hard to grasp. 

-After high school, most followed a predictable path of adulting...work at a local factory, take over the family farm, or maybe head to the nearest "bigger town" for a job. Thinking about careers in fields we'd never even heard of? That kind of stuff was for "city people," not us. If we were asked what we want to be when we grow up, you heard the same aspirations - a teacher, a nurse, a baseball player, a fireman, the basics. Once a girl in my class said Public Relations and I had to check the encyclopedia when I got home. That girls name has stuck with me my whole life because of that answer in 4th grade.

-Our guidance counselor did his best, but he could only tell us about the paths he knew that aligned with our GPA. His focus was mainly guided towards the students who were on the honor roll or athletes. I think I spoke to him all of three times in my high school career. The number of students in grades 9-12 at my high school was less than my cousin's graduating class in her suburban Chicago high school. The opportunities of Ivy League colleges and athletic scholarships to a Big Ten college were like winning the lottery for a graduate of a small rural high school. (As of today, no one from my town has won the lottery, attended Harvard, or been a Big Ten athlete.)  Some of us left whether it was for college, a job, or just chasing that itch for something more. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people with totally different stories, goals, and ideas. We stumbled across career paths we’d never heard of, and yeah, it was exciting. But it was also a little overwhelming—we had some serious catching up to do.

That doesn’t mean growing up in a small town was all bad. We learned the value of community, hard work, and knowing how to slow things down. But as Gen Xers we faced the challenge of how to push past the familiar bubble we grew up in to explore a world of possibilities that were impossible to imagine. 

Sometimes I wonder how things might’ve turned out if we’d had more exposure to the bigger picture back then. Would we have dreamed different dreams? Headed down other paths? But honestly, I think that delayed journey of discovery shaped us. It taught us how to adapt, to chase after new experiences, and to really appreciate just how big and complex the world actually is—something our small-town roots barely scratched the surface of.

Were you a small-town Gen Xer too? What kind of limits did you face, and how’d you break through them? Drop your story in the comments.  I’d love to hear all about your Gen X-periences.