I’m Burnt Out: The Story of a Generation

Exploring how the youth keep feeling burnout as a result of internalizing the pressures to over-achieve.

Meet Ahmad Marwan, a man of many hats. Working a demanding 9-to-5 job, pursuing a master’s degree in the evening, managing a family business, in addition to being a founding member of an NGO– his ambitions has no limits.

However, as his responsibilities heighten, so does his exhaustion. Ahmed reports feeling burnt out before the end of the week, running on an energy deficit that cannot sustain any form of social interactions.

As of 2019, the World Health Organization has classified burnout syndrome as an occupational phenomenon resulting from “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Burnout syndrome is characterized by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and reduced professional efficacy”.

Side hustles are increasingly prevalent (but necessary), social media platforms offer a comparing lens towards personal and professional achievements, and organizations are seeking to maximize productivity with the least possible (human) resources. This results in people working beyond their boundaries, and not in the healthy, productive sense, which leaves negative implications on their mental health.

Al Reem Al Ammari, an Emirati working a full-time job while managing two start-ups, finds that burnout syndrome is touching all aspects of her life. Given the highly demanding nature of her professional and entrepreneurial pursuits, Al Reem finds herself on alert-mode on most hours of the day, every day of the week. Al Reem often struggles to sleep appropriate hours as she is either working, or suffering from work-related anxiety. Al Reem currently seeks therapy, through which she is aiming to maintain a work-life balance, with healthy boundaries for both.

Najla Al Owais is a mother of three, who has resigned from her job as a primary education teacher at a government school due to her constant state of burnout. She struggled the most during the last two years of her job, when her workload responsibilities extended beyond teaching and curriculum preparation. The concerns she raised regarding the workload were not addressed. As a result, she reported experiencing guilt when working extra hours because she was not able to spend enough quality time with her family. And when she did spend time with her family, she felt guilty for not doing more work. In both scenarios, that guilt is matched with exhaustion and energy depletion.

According to a UAE based study by Dev et al., burnout amongst teaching professionals is resulting from an accumulation of the pressure of being assigned lots of tasks, decreased motivation from low compensation, and insufficient appreciation from supervisors (2019).

Having experienced burnout myself, as a high school student, and in my undergraduate years, I acknowledge the impact it could have on one’s mental health, particularly with the blurred lines between working hard and working beyond your boundaries. Speaking from both my personal experience and from that of my peers, acknowledging that we are experiencing burnout is the most difficult step. The reason stems from our increased exposure to one another’s achievements in their final-result-manifestation. It stems from the belief that over-achievement is our default nature, and that we shouldn’t “settle” for (external) standards of “mediocrity”. We find ourselves in a race against ourselves.

Marlynn Wei, a Harvard and Yale-trained psychiatrist, finds that acknowledging that we are burnt out is the essential first step. She also cites sleep, exercise, practicing mindfulness, and self-compassion, in addition to mediation and emotional expression as helpful coping mechanisms to combatting burnout.

Many of these coping mechanisms have helped me feel more at ease, but I also go to regular cognitive behavioral therapy sessions. One technique that has proven beneficial to me is saying no when my plate is full. It may have caused me unanticipated delays, but it has allowed for better mental health management.

Moving forward, further research must be conducted on the motivations for success for the youth, the incidence of burnout, and the implications that both have on their mental health. As the youth embrace more responsibilities and create opportunities in globally uncertain times, more must be known about what is going on in their inner realms to preempt any disastrous consequences.

Omar Al Owais is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism in the UAE