Tired of Living Through Major Historical Events

About

Tired of Living Through Major Historical Events, also known as I Really Wish I Weren't Living Through a Major Historical Event Right Now, refers to a popular expression coined during the COVID-19 pandemic that describes being exhausted by experiencing significant global events in one's lifetime. The catchphrase has been used in memes, reaction images and viral videos, gaining a notable prevalence again during the 2021-2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Origin

On March 21st, 2020, following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter user @aardvarsk tweeted,^[1] "I am tired of being a part of a major historical event." The post gained over 61,100 retweets and 268,000 likes on Twitter in two years as the sentiment spread among other users across the web (shown below).

Spread

The tweet on March 21st, 2020, received further spread online in the following week, with screenshots of it being posted on Reddit^[2] and other social media in the subsequent days.

On March 29th, 2020, Tumblr^[3] user darlingfreddie posted a Squidward's Badge meme in which the caption was altered from "I really wish I wasn't here right now" to "I really wish I weren't living through a major historical event right now!" The post gained over 114,000 likes and reblogs in two years. On the same day, Redditor^[4] EtherealDoughnut reposted the meme to /r/me_irl, where it gained over 78,200 upvotes in six months.

In November 2020, another reaction image based on the same caption, made by an unknown user, went viral (shown below). November 5th, 2020, reposts by Tumblr^[5] account dankmemeuniversity and iFunny^[6] user RedrumDude gained over 22,000 likes and reblogs and 6,900 notes, respectively.

The format saw another surge in virality following the January 6th, 2021, storming of the United States Capitol. For example, on January 10th, 2021, TikToker^[8] @seanghedi turned the expression into a jingle, with the video gaining over 94,200 likes in one year.

On September 6th, 2021, Redditor^[7] Francis_Faffywaffles posted a re-edited version of the Squidward's Badge meme paired with a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien. The post gained over 11,200 upvotes in /r/lotrmemes and was widely circulated in the following weeks (shown below, left). By late September 2021, the re-edited Squidward's Badge meme saw an independent spread online (shown below, right).

In late February 2022, following the Russian invasion in Ukraine on February 23rd, the format saw another massive resurgence in prevalence, with reaction images based on the expression being circulated online across social media.

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References