Agreed. 'The paddling in place', for the older of us (over 40's), especially, is mentally tough - because we never grew up with that. Things were always progressing.
The 'wests' new paradigm is not the post war constant growth one, improving lifestyle, anymore.
Although I am chronologically a "Baby Boomer," I always considered myself more on the front edge of Gen-X... and with that, growing up with the realization that I would be part of the generation that would actually end up worse off than my parents. My wife and I work way more than our parents ever did, and struggle far more to merely paddle in place.