That there is an immense amount of pressure on people to feel the need to work until they physically can’t just to have a comfortable life. Hustle culture is the idea that working continuously with no stops is the only way to be successful. Whether it’s related to school or work, people are always pushed to their limit, whether it’s to work longer hours or just give more effort so they can be successful. But to what end?
Burnout is the feeling of being overwhelmed and exhausted by everything you have to do while still worrying that you aren’t doing enough. According to Emily Nagoski, an expert in the field, it’s important to get a medical professional’s opinion because burnout has a lot of overlap with depression, anxiety, grief, and rage. Burnout isn’t just about being tired it’s about feeling stuck in a loop where you feel like even giving your all isn’t good enough. Amelia Nagoski, Emily’s sister and co-author, also stated that while burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis, it is a condition caused by extreme stress. The upside to burnout is that it isn’t a permanent state of stress, you just need to find a way to complete your stress response cycle.
I think that people exaggerated how much stress and work junior year was going to be. I can confidently say that this has also been my busiest year. I have to wake up at 5:30 AM to get ready for the day and head to school. Once I get there, I do schoolwork from 7:35 AM to 2:11 PM. After school, if I have work, I go straight there and get out at 6 PM. If I don’t have work, I use that time to run any errands I need to.When I get home around 7 PM, I clean, eat, and finish any assignments I have. I usually finish those around 9:30–10 PM. Then, I prepare for the next day by picking out my clothes, deciding what to do with my hair, setting my alarms, and doing one last round of cleaning before bed. After that, I give myself about two hours to go on my phone or watch TV. I know that may not seem like a lot, but compared to my last two years of high school when I could just go to school, come home, and do whatever I wanted, it has been quite the change. At times, especially at the end of a quarter or semester, I have to work extra hard to make sure I turn in all my work while also staying on top of my responsibilities outside of school, and by the end, I feel extremely exhausted. I think I’ve felt it the most this quarter because I have absolutely no motivation to do any work. I procrastinate until the last possible minute just so I don’t have to do anything after school. Within a society that glorifies burnout, it can happen to you, whether you want it to or not.
Burnout isn’t a made up issue that people fabricate to get out of doing work, it’s a real problem that affects people all over the world. Christina Maslach, PhD, a professor emerita of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and a core researcher at the university’s Healthy Workplaces Center, said, “Teachers and health care workers are uniquely prone to high rates of burnout, as was the case even before the pandemic. People in the 18-24 age range are experiencing burnout at the highest rate. 43% of people from around 100 countries experienced workplace burnout in 2020. This figure rose from 39% in 2019. Burnout also affects people’s performance. 33% of employees say they are less focused at work as a result of burnout, while 31% report losing interest in work, and 21% report increased procrastination.” Jobs like law and healthcare have especially high burnout rates because of long hours and hard labor. Lots of people mistake burnout for lack of effort in people’s performance. Instead of judging people, we should address the problem of hustle culture and burnout.
If people want to break this cycle of “work until you drop,” they will have to challenge the narrative that struggle equals success. Hustle culture glorifies burnout, but to what extent? People are wired to look at burnout as a badge of honor when in reality it can be the start of a downfall. People need to understand that sleepless nights and relentless work shouldn’t be your everyday life. Everyone should be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle and balance work. We should recognize accomplishments and achievements by the way we flourish, not by how much we have sacrificed.
Ashley Abramson.”Burnout and stress are everywhere.”APA,Vol. 53 No. 1,January 1, 2022,https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/01/special-burnout-stress
Andrew Freedman, Dr. John Chan, Sally Clarke, and Amanda Cebrián.”Top 5 Things You Don’t Know About Burnout in 2023.”January 12, 2023, https://www.shiftthework.com/blog/top-5-things-you-dont-know-about-burnout-in-2023
Spill team.”64 workplace burnout statistics you need to know for 2024.”February 8, 2024,https://www.spill.chat/mental-health-statistics/workplace-burnout-statistics
