Millenial Burnout: Are We Just “Snowflakes”?

“But there’s so much to do I don’t’ feel like doing anything.”

“But my friends and family members are doing way better than me. Am I working hard enough?”

“But what am I actually trying to achieve in life?”

Dear millennials, this is an article dedicated to you guys.

By now, we have all become young adults ready to take on the world, or in our millennial lingo, we are ready to do some “adulting”. Indeed there are plenty of opportunities for us now compared to back then. Finding a job, applying for postgraduate studies, and basically do a lot of stuff independently; that’s what is “expected” of us by societal standards. And the boom of social media in our generation means we are constantly connected with people on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. We’re bound to come across posts by our peers when they’ve gotten somewhere in their lives.

Because of this, we are pressured by society to feel like we need to be constantly “doing” stuff in order to be considered “successful”, which will eventually leave us feeling drained for days or even months consecutively. Often times we may find ourselves so exhausted and burnt out, we put off even the simplest of chores like putting our laundry away, just because “we can’t”. This is known as “errand paralysis”.

Millennial burnout is real and it has a profound effect on our mental health. Like generations before us with their own struggles, this is the struggle of our generation. It helps to talk about this with our peers to understand that we are together in this and that this is not a typical “millennial snowflake” issue as labelled by other generations.

Written by: A fellow millennial.

Resources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/…/c384d54a-0116-437f-83e8-ddbca65b6c06

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/…/millennials-burnout-generati…

Artwork: Gemma Correll