Millennial burnout is very common nowadays. While being able to deal with it and overcome it can be difficult, it is not impossible. There are various problems related to millennial burnout. This burnout can affect the state of mind and health of millennials in general.
Now, before we get to 5 tips to help millennials prevent burnout, we will cover some essential questions.
What is Millennial Burnout?
The term burnout refers to a mechanism of psychological protection, which is manifested in the form of emotional sublimation in response to external traumatic influence. According to many psychologists, millennial burnout has three main effects. These include emotional exhaustion, a feeling of personal inefficacy, and de-personalization.
Millennial burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion. At present, the burnout of the young generation is not included in the list of diseases. However, this disorder has fairly clear symptoms. According to Petersen, many of the factors contributing to millennial burnout are rooted in the economic and social conditions. The reasons include, in particular, the financial crisis of 2008, the possibility of an upcoming recession, parental pressure, impact of new digital technology, etc.
Petersen summarized the factors related to millennial burnout and defined them as “errand paralysis”. Millennials usually believe that their energy should be focused exclusively on tasks that require great efforts for a high reward. In contrast, even the simplest everyday tasks become unaffordable for them. Even though some young people try to avoid social networks, both technology and the internet can physically and emotionally deplete individuals, especially adolescents.
This generation has been educated and trained for hard work, first in childhood, then in high school and finally during higher education. In many ways, millennial burnout is a result of parental hyper-custody and the passionate desire to give their child a better education and better career opportunities. This subsequently turns into a burden of high expectations and constant dissatisfaction with personal achievements in this burnout society.
Is The Problem of Burnout New?
Burnout is not a new problem, but recently it has become widespread among the generation of millennials. These challenges are caused by large workloads, limited control, underpaid jobs, lack of communication, and business activities that conflict with personal values. Young people who have to work and live in complicated, contradictory, and sometimes even hostile conditions are vulnerable to millennial burnout.
How Did Millennials Become The Burnout Generation?
Millennials are assumed to be more vulnerable due to constantly facing more problematic conditions. Anne Helen Petersen states that millennials are trying their best to adapt to such modern trends due to the rapid growth of students’ debts for education, difficulties in finding adequately paid jobs, and economic crises. Both social competition and the need to always be online 24/7 only increase the symptoms of millennial burnout and lead to depression and even cynicism.
Public Comment on the Issue
The article by Anne Helen Petersen caused a public outcry. A 28-year-old young woman Rhiân shared her story with BBC Three. She writes that she is a successful person with a great career. But outside of the workplace, chaos reigns in her life. Her constant companions are stress, a feeling of guilt, and fatigue. Her brain works all the time, and she is always on high alert. Anxiety and depression exhaust her for a long time. Because of this stress, her sleep became disturbed, and she often experiences insomnia.
The story of Ryan received a strong reaction. Twenty to thirty-year-old women and men from around the world began to reveal their stories about their problems. These people are all very different, but they have one thing in common. Being under the constant pressure of urgent matters in this burnout society. As a result of millennial burnout, young people feel unhappy and often wish to change their jobs.
What is going on? Contemporary millennials are the largest and most educated generation to ever exist. They have already demonstrated how much they differ from previous generations and have a higher level of expertise. However, recent research data makes the picture rather pessimistic. As stated in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBS) report, this generation can have a negative impact on the state economy and the prosperity of other people. Due to the poor health condition and the millennial burnout syndrome of millennials.
How to Deal with Millennial Burnout?
Due to common concern, many scientists recommend several ways for millennials’ to cope with burnout.
Here are 5 ways to deal with millennial burnout:
1. Improve Working and Living Conditions
One approach to solving the problem of millennial burnout is to teach young people to be more persistent and resistant to external factors. This is based on the assumption that highly skilled people can improve their business practices to avoid burnout. However, such a solution may be another source of stress for perfectionists. A better resolution of the problem is not teaching young people resistance and endurance but simplifying complex and sometimes contradictory work for them. Along with improving an unfavourable professional and personal climate.
2. Create Long-Term Plans for Career Development
A lot of millennials attempt to achieve success too soon. Young people should gradually enter one or another profession and be free to leave it for doing something else. The increased life expectancy forces young people to evaluate their career prospects in the long term. They need to plan their career and create goals for the next 30 to 50 years.
3. Learn to be Independent of Gadgets
A constant attachment to mobile communications psychologically exhausts young people and prevents them from being alone with their thoughts. Millennials should re-evaluate loneliness not as a positive phenomenon, essential for self-reflection.
4. Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Affairs
This world is full of “false urgency”, where all the messages we receive are time-sensitive. Psychologists advise to stop depleting mental abilities and plan personal tasks. One way to deal with millennial burnout and anxiety from unfinished tasks is to stop thinking about them all the time and just do them in a timely manner.
5. Think and Reflect More
One of the main tasks for solving simple problems and reducing millennial burnout as a whole is essentially meditation. Young people should do more yoga or other similar meditative techniques. Even a few minutes a day can create a calm state of mind that will lead to better productivity.
Thus, the new generation can successfully overcome the problem of millennial burnout. These 5 simple tricks can help young people develop their own criteria for success and make their lives much better, despite the overwhelming amount of millennial burnout.
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