Psychology notes that individuals raised in the 1960s and 1970s developed nine rare mental advantages

A few weeks ago, I saw a man in his late sixties fix a broken café chair with just a coin, a keyring, and a kind of calm that wouldn’t give up. Around him, younger people were already filming the “fail” for Instagram. They were half laughing and half angry that they had to stand.

He didn’t say anything. He just grumbled, “They don’t make them like they used to,” tightened a screw with the coin, checked the chair’s balance, and then sat back down with a quiet sense of satisfaction that filled the room.

I saw that he didn’t seem to care. No hurry, no drama, and no hope that someone else would fix it.

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The quiet strength of people who grew up with constant comfort

When you ask a psychologist about people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, they will often use the word “resilience.” Not the kind of bravery you see in movies. One that looks almost boring from the outside.

A lot of them learned how to deal with pain without calling it that. They walked to school in the rain, waited weeks for a letter, and lived with only three TV channels and one phone for the whole family. Their nervous systems grew up without the constant flow of notifications and small rewards.

That doesn’t make them “better.” Their brains were just wired to wait, be patient, and not get instant fixes.

A therapist I spoke to told me about a typical session with a client who was born in 1955.
He came in after he lost his job at 64.
He was worried because his wife was sick, he didn’t have a lot of money saved up, and yes, he was worried.

But the way he spoke was different from what she was used to.
Don’t say things like “I’m broken” or “I can’t handle this.”
He said, “I’ve been through worse.” Not a miracle, but a plan.

He got a part-time job, cut back on some of his spending, and began volunteering at a repair café.
His life wasn’t glamorous by the time they finished therapy a few months later.
It was just stable again.

Psychologists say that this way of dealing with problems is linked to something simple: going through small, manageable problems over and over again while the brain was still growing.
Power outages, oil shortages, strikes, parents who worked long hours, and toys that broke and stayed broken.

These kids had to deal with being bored and frustrated.
That constant low-level challenge changed the way the brain works for self-soothing, problem-solving, and seeing things from different points of view.

A lot of those little problems are taken away on purpose these days.
Apps, services, and endless entertainment come to the rescue before frustration even has a chance to set in.
We make things easier, but we also slowly get rid of the mental “callus” that older generations built up without even realising it.

9 mental strengths that people born in the 1960s and 1970s have but don’t talk about

Psychologists who look at patterns across generations don’t make the past seem better than it was.
They see both strength and trauma.
But they keep talking about nine mental muscles when they talk about people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s.

First, a strong kind of patience.
They are used to waiting for news, deliveries, and money.
Waiting isn’t a big deal.

Second, a low drama level.
It was normal to be upset, not a brand.
You didn’t tell everyone how you were feeling all the time, so your feelings didn’t become who you are.

Third: “good enough” thinking.
For wedding photos and clothes for Sunday, perfection was the goal.
Life every day was not planned out.

Fourth: a mindset of fixing things.
You tried to fix things before throwing them away if they broke.
Not “what should I buy next?” but “how do we save this?” was the default setting.

Fifth, privacy of feelings.
Instead of sharing too much online, people wrote in journals, wrote letters, and talked late at night.
People talked about their feelings in smaller groups, which made them more comfortable with silence and taking their time to think.

Sixth: a focus on commitment.
You stayed longer at work, in your marriage, and with your friends.
Yes, sometimes too long, but the urge to run away at the first sign of trouble was much weaker.

Seventh: being able to deal with boredom.
Long car rides, waiting rooms, and afternoons with nothing to do.
Those empty spaces gave rise to daydreaming, creativity, and a kind of mental openness that is hard to find now.

Eighth: being hopeful based on reality.
A lot of them saw social changes happen, like civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental awareness.
It took years of pushing, but they saw that things could get better.

This made people feel hopeful, but not entitled. Hope was linked to hard work.
Ninth: a strong sense of self outside of performance.
It didn’t mean “I am a failure” right away when I got a bad grade or had a bad day.
Self-concept developed more from roles, values, and relationships than from preferences, scores, or metrics.

Let’s be honest: no one lives up to all of these strengths every day.
But when you put them all together, they make a quiet mental toolkit that most people don’t learn how to use in everyday life.
Psychologists are now curious about how we can intentionally relearn these skills.

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How to get back those “old-school” strengths in a world that moves too fast

You don’t have to have been born in the 1970s to use some of its mental wiring.
Therapists often suggest small, almost silly-looking habits that slowly rebuild the same muscles.

“Intentional waiting” is one of them.
Choose one thing each day that you won’t improve: stand in queue, walk instead of ride or don’t keep track of the delivery.
If you feel the urge to speed things up, don’t reach for your phone.

Another tip is to fix one small thing each week.
Fix a broken mug, tighten a screw, or sew up a sock.
You’re not just saving things; you’re also teaching your brain that you can solve problems.

Many people feel bad about themselves when they have trouble with things that their parents seemed to handle without any trouble.
That guilt is heavy and doesn’t help.
You didn’t have the same mental environment and stressors as you did.

Begin where you are.
Pick one thing to do, like staying in a relationship conversation for five more minutes or not replacing an appliance the second it starts to squeak.
Small acts of staying put build commitment more than big promises.

A common mistake is to make this a new project for perfectionism.
You’re not trying to look like someone from the 70s.
You’re choosing tools that work for you, your values, and your time.

Psychologists often tell their clients a simple idea:

We can’t go back in time, but we can learn from the best things that happened then.

Here’s a small “mental strengths” toolbox you can use when life seems a little too fragile to make it real:

Every day, take a moment to wait on purpose.
Every week, fix or change the use of one thing.
Keep one part of your life private and offline.
Plan regular times when you do nothing and don’t use screens.
Stay with one hard task for five more minutes than usual.
Talk to an older family member about how they got through a tough time and really listen.
*Generational wisdom isn’t a museum piece; it’s raw material. Older people, especially those who grew up before constant comfort, are often willing to share it if someone just asks.

The surprising benefit of looking back to move forward

If you really listen to people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, you won’t just hear nostalgia.
You hear plans.
Dealing with things without calling it coping.

A lot of them are surprised to see that what they thought was “just normal life” now looks like emotional training from a psychologist’s book.
Thinking long-term, being okay with feeling bad, and not sharing all of your worries until they aren’t as bad.

You don’t have to agree with everything that era stood for to see that its limits made some rare strengths.
The question isn’t “Were they better?”
The question is: “What did their world teach them that mine doesn’t?”

Our culture right now values speed, self-expression, and personalisation.
That makes a real difference for mental health, for people who are on the outside, and for everyday ease.

But something is lost when every feeling is shared, every discomfort is taken away, and every delay is seen as a design flaw.
The mind gets less used to sitting with things that hurt but don’t hurt.
Not as good at telling the difference between a bad moment and a bad life.

It’s strange how good it feels to rebuild those old strengths.
Not to have to go through more pain.
To be less afraid of pain.

Think of a mix: the emotional language of today with the tough habits of the past.
Therapy apps, but also neighbours who lend you tools.
Take care of yourself, but also trust that you can handle one more wave.

You can still get that mix, even if you were born years after the 70s ended.
It starts with little things that would have seemed completely normal back then, like waiting, fixing things, staying, and listening.

That could be the quiet secret of that time.
They didn’t set out to be “mentally strong”.
They just went through hard times that made them stronger. Some of that strength is still available to us if we’re willing to let life be a little less smooth.

Questions and Answers:

Question 1What kinds of mental strengths do people who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s tend to have?
Question 2: Is it possible for younger generations to become just as strong without going through the same things?
Question 3: Isn’t this just making the past sound better than it was and ignoring the problems of that time?
Question 4: How can I learn these strengths if my parents didn’t show them to me?
Question 5: What is one easy thing I could do this week to strengthen these “old-school” mental muscles?