The Burnout Epidemic
This topic is something that I know many people struggle with. It starts small, skipping a meal or a sleepless night. You say to yourself “I’m just busy, this with pass.” You push yourself through it, fuel yourself on caffeine and keep moving. But eventually, you feel your body start to give up. Your mind feels heavy, even the simplest tasks feel impossible. Joy is a rare occurrence and rest doesn’t feel like rest anymore. You are not just tired, this is burn out. You are not alone. Burnout is not limited to the handful of high-stress professions like it use to be. It’s everywhere- in students, parents, healthcare workers, corporate employees and even people who choose to work for themselves and own a business. It’s emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that doesn’t go away with a good night’s sleep. We unfortunately live in a world where being constantly overwhelmed has become the norm. The expectation to be reachable 24/7, to measure our worth by how much can juggle without falling apart, to do more with less.
I planned this topic about a month ago but I wasn’t sure on when to use it. I didn’t want to type this out based off only my experience, so I took the time to get in contact with people I went to school with, family, close friends and those who I may have never really spoken to but follow on social media. I did this to get a general consensus, and just as I had thought- almost all the people I spoke with, no matter the career path they followed, or job they have now, are struggling with burnout. Ages mostly ranging in the early twenties. I know what your thinking. Early twenties? They have plenty of time! If you are reading this and you have a pension and a house you payed below $100,000 then you may wanna rethink a few things. Yes you may have struggled like we did or had “harder circumstances” but if you had the money you had in your early twenties right now, could you have bought a house in today’s market? Would you have started a family so soon or even have more than one child?
Minimum wage (at least in my state) is $11.00 unless you make money based off of tips. Lets say that is how much you make hourly now. $11.00 multiplied by 40 hours weeks (for a full-time job) makes $440 for a week WITHOUT tax. Now with the addition of tax which does have a range, I’ll make it the minimum for this situation, is 2.36%. Takes your $440 down to $429.62 and technically less since you most likely opted for basic dental and vision insurance, but we will stick to that amount. Now for someone in their early twenties, single, and lives with their parents, they could manage to live and save some money. But not everyone gets to be in that situation. Maybe they have an apartment. The cheapest rent price I could find nearby was $599/per month for a one bed and one bath apartment and no pets allowed. (I hope they saved up some money) Let’s just say they did, at least $4,000. Aside from rent, there are utilities, car payments, car insurance, common subscriptions, groceries, gas for your car, cell phone service payment and other things in that mix in . Could you manage? Could you save the CHANGE you are left with to save for a $200,000 home without dipping into your savings account? Yea, sure you could, you would just have to hope and pray that your car doesn’t brake down, get rid of a few unnecessary subscriptions, eat ramen literally everyday and continue to only work full-time and grab any overtime you can. Working yourself to death without proper nutrition, over worked and underpaid. That’s the plan.
On a side note- I did the math for you:
If you worked with that $11/hour with no tax and no bills to worry about it would take you 3,636.36 hours or 454.545 work days to reach $40,000 which would ONLY be the recommended down payment amount for that $200,000 home you would probably eventually need. Yep, you read that correctly and that’s just the down payment. Keep in mind that is with no taxes, no bills, and no other worries. I’m not gonna do the math for taxes and bills included but you get the picture I hope.
So if you add on all the extras, could you manage that in your twenties in this day and age? With everything that is going on around us? Family matters? Coworker drama? The random daily stresses and keeping up with conversations between at least twenty different people?
I bet you think you could. But could you really?
The very few adults I have spoken with on this topic also say something in common.
“I feel sorry for you.”
Even though I speak leaning more towards workplace burnout, it’s only because it seems to be most common. There are a lot of other types of burnout. Creative burnout, caregiver burnout, student burnout, social burnout and even emotional burnout. All these things are layered into one big heaping pile and in one way or another they all align. Somewhere along the way, rest became a luxury instead of a necessity. We may feel guilty for taking the time to slow down. We apologize for taking time off. We confuse productivity with purpose. We weren’t built to go non-stop, especially in your twenties. But we’re praised when we do. So we keep running on this, thinking it’s normal. You may think, “how do we heal ourselves from burnout?” Healing begins with permission. Permission to rest. To say no. To step back. It begins with recognizing that burnout is not a personal failure. It’s often a sign that you’ve been strong for too long, without support. It’s okay to pause. It’s okay to stop striving and start feeling again. Real rest isn’t laziness, it’s survival. And you should not have to earn it.
Burnout may be widespread, but it doesn’t have to be permanent. Healing happens when we start listening to our bodies again. When we stop trying to prove our worth through exhaustion. When we choose to live, not just survive. People are beginning to speak out, to redifine success. It may not be on the local news but it’s out there. We are all against the idea that we are only as good as what we produce.
