You're Burned Out...and That's the Point.

It's not a mistake that you're barely keeping your head above water. It's by design.

Photo by Rudi Endresen on Unsplash

I don’t know a single person who isn’t exhausted right now. It doesn’t matter what level of society you come from, what kind of job you have. Every single person I encounter in the real living world is bone-tired. You can feel it, radiating off them like some kind of permeable cloud. We’re all drained to our souls, and I can’t help but think that’s by design.

Just look at the state of everyday events, of common, everyday behaviors. People who rage-scroll for hours, spending their time spewing vile instead of going to therapy. Or your own collapsing routines, whittering away until you’re doing nothing but the bare minimum. Working. Eating. Brushing your teeth and going to bed. Skipping protests because you simply don’t have the energy to go. You’re depleted.

There’s a pattern there, for those who care to look. A trail that leads from qui bono to a veritable smorgasbord of questions. What if it’s not your personal failures that have led you into a life full of burnout, disappointment, and despair? What if it’s not your missteps and mistakes that have made the world this way? What if, in reality, the system wants us tired? What if you’re burned out by design?

Burnout is becoming a widespread condition

Now, hear me out. This isn’t some kind of conspiracy theory. I’m not talking about some hooded cabal in a dark closet, plotting your personal demise. What I’m talking about is the general beast of the system. Isolated rulers who benefit from their power over those who are too weakened to correct the blatantly obvious injustices. There need be no conspiracy. The beast knows what benefits the beast.

Where you stand on that idea doesn’t truly matter. The reality of the situation is clear. Burnout is on the rise everywhere. In the workplace, in political activism, and even online.

This year, studies found that workplace burnout was at an all-time high, with 66% of American employees admitting that they were currently experiencing some degree of burnout. Other studies have shown that levels of activist persistence have declined, with 60% of activists eventually leaving the space never to return. And that’s nothing compared to the personal levels of burnout. Studies published in the UK in 2023 showed that 3 out 5 working people surveyed had experienced burnout. Then, there are the generational divides to consider.