Millenials and Burnout

[zesty_pinto]

I don't have much time to talk about my life, but I just wanted to say I read this article about millenial burnout, and I felt I related way, way, way too much with the scenarios depicted here. The lack of satisfaction of a job well done, the constant concern for money, the need to feel like I am missing something that should be done despite how much Michelle says I did in a day...

I take break times too (the post I pushed aside was going to be about me ranting about how I waste too much time with the Switch), but I don't feel like I've rested enough. I don't think I feel like I've ever rested enough and I'm always full of anxieties.

Maybe once Michelle has only one job it'll be easier for her, but I get concerned about her load still because she doesn't want to go home since it adds miles to the car and it's more effort for her to drive home and back to pick me up.

I can't really blame her, sigh. If this doesn't help ease her life, then I might consider quitting soon as well, ease of it be damned. Buying a car for this second job is not worth it when I'm only using it for this job and taking into account that it's only getting me 100 a week.

Welp, a proper post will be made later on. Sharing this one because the article really felt so revelatory to know that I wasn't the only one that has been feeling this for so long.

Comments

[ssterchaos]

Yessssss, I agree with the article. Specifically, this one line: 'Why can’t I get this mundane stuff done? Because I’m burned out. Why am I burned out? Because I’ve internalized the idea that I should be working all the time. Why have I internalized that idea? Because everything and everyone in my life has reinforced it — explicitly and implicitly — since I was young.'

I'm on the "older" end of the Millenial spectrum (I'm currently 38) but I have noticed that I share a lot of the same feelings and sentiments that Millenials feel. And the above line is my problem; I feel like something always has to be done, regardless of whether or not I'm going to benefit from it and most of the time, I don't benefit from it. So it's a struggle to want to get stuff done.

I also sympathize with you feeling like you've taken break time but not feeling like you've had enough actual rest.

[zesty_pinto]

Hah, another 38er as well! My friends tell me I'm actually GenX, but my currently life trajectory seems to be telling me a different experience...

We actually got some proper downtime the other day and we still spent it cleaning the kitchen and making meals for the week, hah! (I also scrubbed a toilet but it's such quick work in comparison that it doesn't feel like worth mentioning except in rambling asides like this).

I'm mostly annoyed that for all this emphasis we put into being on the go, you'd think we'd be better rewarded for it, you know? I remember reading about how Americans are among some of the hardest working in the world but our paychecks don't seem to suggest we are reaping the rewards of that mentality. Consider me irked.

[padhopper]

I glimpsed the article. The procrastination stood out to me. I think that sort of thing is taught, and has nothing to do with being a millennial.

My niece's, both in their early 20s now, fit into the millennial bracket. They too put off tasks & errands and procrastinate like crazy.
My ex born in the 1960s was also a huge procrastinator.
Reason all 3 of these people put things off ... they knew if they waited it out, someone else, somewhere else, will get sick & tired of their bullshit, and just do the task. Example of the guy in the article who didn't register to vote , until someone did it for him.
I refused to rescue my ex and
my brother refuses to jump in and
save my niece's from themselves also. He's on to something. We aren't doing anyone favours by letting them procrastinate their way through life. It drove me nuts to be married to someone like that. Drives my brother nuts to work with people like that. People can easily change that bit about themselves and really should. It's annoying af 😂

[zesty_pinto]

There is that, too and I think you need to encourage yourself to find a way to have a drive and a goal for it too. I'll concede I was a lot like that until my 20s too because I was always railroaded along to whatever decisions my parents told me to do with little of my input even mattering. When I had the freedom to do things myself and put time into those projects and realize the cost and benefit of these things though was when I realized I needed to push myself to do better.

This is probably another reason why I think everyone deserves that one moment in humility when they have to live in a moment of desperation just to give them the incentive and desire to push themselves to do better since every decision matters. I don't think a lot of people are willing to acknowledge it or even desire it because you have a political side that believes it means you failed and another political side that sees it as a form of cruelty, but I think of it like a necessity to understand what survival is like.

That might be the other reason I poisoned the well that is Facebook with political posts since I want to spam the hell out of all the awfulness I see until I encourage more people to care. At the worst, I ruin Facebook. At the best, I get people to start thinking more about the problems at stake. Either way it's progress since I like both results.

[padhopper]

We all need a reality check. We all need to lose our jobs and work ourselves into a solution .

Don't censor yourself on Facebook. If you are not pleased with the politic mess you see speak up. Someone is thinking what you are thinking and needs to see they are not alone in that.