https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennial-burnout-perspectives
Here’s What “Millennial Burnout” Is Like For 16 Different People
I do believe that burnout is a shared, defining generational experience, but that doesn’t mean it works or feels the same way for all millennials — or that it’s limited to people our age. My own experience (as a white, upper-middle-class, college-educated woman) provided the backbone of this particular essay, but it was just the beginning of a conversation — not the end. Since I published this piece, so many people have begun to share their own, different, and equally important experiences; I wanted to bring together some of those perspectives (lightly edited for length and clarity) to keep the conversation going. — Anne Helen Petersen
As a black woman I feel as if I was were born tired. Every woman in my family has always worked since adolescence almost until the day they died. That’s one thing I think is always missing from conversations about women in the workplace. To middle-class white women, work still seems like somewhat of a novelty. I’m an elementary school teacher. My mother was a social worker. My grandmother was a teacher and her mother was a slave. I was born burned out. —Elly
Errand paralysis happens to me, but it also impacts the errands I have to do for my mom as part of my filial duty (which I embrace) since she left her family, work, and friends in China to raise me as a divorced single mother. I feel some guilt around not getting to errands for myself, but I feel that guilt 1,000x more for things I have to do for my mom (e.g., banking, looking things up on websites, English-related things like editing her résumé and cover letter when she applies for jobs). I am not sure if millennials who are not from a culture where duty to parents is as strong would feel nearly as much guilt as I do.
Mental health was not something we talked about in my household growing up. Depression and anxiety were not words I ever heard until my Psychology 100 class in my first year of undergrad. Instead, I heard the terms 吃苦 “eating bitterness” and 性情 “heart feeling” as both my parents felt the depression that is common for newcomers to Canada, struggling to find stable work in a society that places white folks above all others. Accepting the fact that I, too, can be burned out, depressed, and anxious while still being a Chinese person has been a tough process. — Daiyu, 28
You end up missing life-defining experiences for work. The examples are endless. Spend your spring break in Mexico, but you’re building a church for 18 hours a day. Head overseas for a year in college, but you’re actually teaching English in Thailand and living in poverty. Work for $200/week all summer at a summer camp, but you have to witness to kids all day long and you’ll never sleep. Work 60 hours a week to plant a church for free. Burnout is built into religion, but it’s a feature, not a bug. — Daniel, 30
I don’t know a single person who isn’t dangerously stressed out in my school. Everyone procrastinates, nobody commits to after-school clubs or honor society because they’re too busy freaking out about everything else in their lives. None of our parents seem to get it; they just think we have it easy and are just lazy, or distracted with “those darn phones.” Our student assistance counselors are always, always overbooked from students having panic attacks or mental breakdowns in the middle of the day. And to most of us, it’s just a new normal we’ve accepted. — Jillian, 17
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