Kendall Bumpers | Houston Forward Times<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve experienced burnout more times than I can count. Usually, it starts small\u2014maybe I skip an assignment or procrastinate. But eventually, it snowballs until I\u2019m completely avoiding my responsibilities\u2026 until I can\u2019t anymore. I know this isn\u2019t the healthiest way to handle things, but it got me thinking: Why does this happen so often? Why are we, as young adults, so burnt out already? Why are we tired before we\u2019ve even gotten the chance to live?<\/p>\n
While burnout was once thought of as a midlife crisis or something that happens after decades of working, it has become a defining experience for young adults\u2014many of whom are still in school or just entering the workforce. We\u2019re exhausted, overextended, and emotionally drained before we even get the chance to fully start our adult lives. This isn’t just a personal issue; it’s a societal one.<\/p>\n
I want to explore the root causes behind this early-onset burnout among young adults. By looking at societal pressures, economic insecurity, the effects of social media, and the lack of mental health support, we can begin to understand why so many of us are breaking down before we\u2019ve even had a chance to build ourselves up.<\/p>\n
At some point, most of us have heard it:\u00a0\u201cYou don\u2019t even know what stress is yet.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0That kind of rhetoric invalidates the very real pressure young people feel today.<\/p>\n \u201cWith 18- to 34-year-olds saying their average stress level is a 6 out of 10, compared with a 3.4 among people ages 65 and older,\u201d APA\u2019s 2023\u00a0Stress in America<\/em>\u00a0survey found.<\/p>\n When our stress is constantly dismissed, we begin to believe it\u2019s not valid\u2014until it bubbles over.<\/p>\n We live in a world that glorifies overworking. The more exhausted you are, the more \u201cserious\u201d you must be about your goals, right? Platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn are full of highlight reels\u2014people announcing promotions, perfect GPAs, internships, and side hustles.<\/p>\n You start asking yourself:\u00a0\u201cAm I doing enough?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0But that question can spiral fast. The pressure to keep up can be so heavy that it turns into burnout before we even realize it.<\/p>\n Reminder:<\/strong>\u00a0Productivity is not the same as self-worth. You\u2019re allowed to rest.<\/p>\n We grew up online. And while social media has some bright spots, it\u2019s also where comparison thrives. Seeing people succeed back to back to back can make you feel like a failure in slow motion.<\/p>\n Learning to filter not only what you’re seeing on your social media\u2014but also how much time you spend there\u2014can help lessen the mental toll it takes. It\u2019s not inherently wrong to share your wins. But over time, it builds this illusion that everyone has it figured out except you.<\/p>\n That illusion? It\u2019s one of the fastest ways to burn out.<\/p>\n A lot of us are working part-time jobs, taking full course loads, helping family, and still barely getting by. Tuition is high. Rent is high. Food is expensive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to \u201cstay motivated\u201d when you’re constantly stressed about survival.<\/p>\n Burnout isn’t just emotional\u2014it\u2019s economic. We\u2019re expected to grind for a future that feels less and less secure. That takes a toll, even if we don\u2019t always talk about it.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t talk about burnout without talking about COVID. I was in high school when the pandemic hit, and for the first time, I had to manage my learning completely alone. No teachers checking in face-to-face. No classmates. No routine.<\/p>\n That experience shifted everything for me. It made me question how much of my self-worth was tied to grades. Even now, as a college junior, I\u2019m still unlearning the idea that GPA equals value. COVID didn\u2019t just disrupt school\u2014it changed how we cope, how we connect, and how we measure ourselves.<\/p>\n I learned not to measure my self-worth based on academic performance. Now, this isn’t me excusing myself to get bad grades, but I understand that GPA doesn\u2019t determine my intelligence. I have to take into account the circumstances of that semester, which may have impacted my academic performance. I reflect on what I could have done differently and plan to apply those lessons to do better.<\/p>\n As young adults, we feel like we have to say yes to everything\u2014join every club, apply to every opportunity, stay booked and busy. But sometimes, doing too much ends with nothing getting done well.<\/p>\n Learning to say no isn\u2019t quitting. It\u2019s protecting your peace. It\u2019s understanding your capacity and making room for what matters.<\/p>\n One piece of advice that stuck with me came from a friend:\u00a0\u201cSometimes, you just have to crashout.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n We can\u2019t always hold it together. It\u2019s okay to cry, rest, and reset. Just don\u2019t confuse growing pains with failure. Growth is supposed to be uncomfortable. Burnout isn\u2019t always about weakness\u2014it\u2019s about learning your limits.<\/p>\n TSU student Zettoria H. says that when dealing with feelings of burnout,\u00a0\u201cI sit with myself and cry it out.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0She suggests the importance of letting your community help you cope, stating:\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t push people away who want to help you. Give yourself grace and keep moving.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n 🔎\u00a0Clarification: \u201cCrashout\u201d is a cultural term often used to describe a full mental\/emotional breakdown moment. Think: crying in bed, phone on Do Not Disturb, binge-watching shows until you can breathe again.<\/em><\/p>\n I used to feel guilty for being burned out. I\u2019d see people handling more than I was\u2014still smiling, still making the dean\u2019s list. But what comes easily to someone else might be hard for me. And that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n I had to learn to give myself the same grace I\u2019d give a friend. Burnout taught me boundaries. It taught me self-compassion. And most importantly, it reminded me that life isn\u2019t a race.<\/p>\n So the next time you feel like you\u2019re falling behind, pause. Take a breath. And remember: Your worth isn\u2019t measured by how much you get done.<\/p>\n We\u2019re learning how to cope. How to protect ourselves. How to push back against a culture that tells us to grind until we disappear.<\/p>\n That\u2019s strength\u2014not weakness.<\/p>\n And if no one has told you this today:<\/p>\n You\u2019re allowed to rest.<\/p>\n You\u2019re allowed to not be okay.<\/p>\n And you will be okay again soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kendall Bumpers | Houston Forward Times I\u2019ve experienced burnout more times than I can count. Usually, it starts small\u2014maybe I skip an assignment or procrastinate. But eventually, it snowballs until I\u2019m completely avoiding my responsibilities\u2026 until I can\u2019t anymore. I know this isn\u2019t the healthiest way to handle things, but it got me thinking: Why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[729],"tags":[817,818,813,815,260,810,809,816,812,696,814,811],"class_list":["post-12842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-kendall-bumpers","tag-adult-lives","tag-burnout","tag-early-onset-burnout","tag-economic-insecurity","tag-houston-forward-times","tag-hustle-culture","tag-kendall-bumpers","tag-mental-health-support","tag-perfect-gpas","tag-social-media","tag-societal-pressures","tag-stress-in-america-survey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12844,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12842\/revisions\/12844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nnpa.org\/chevydtu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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