Why are millennials so burnt out? How do we find our footing in a shifting world?
After many conversations with my friends and peers, it seems like burnout can often feel like a permanent state rather than something that passes. But the truth is we were raised to believe that we could do anything, and with that aligning with smartphones being introduced into our world, I think this amplified this feeling. The feeling of endless possibility. 49% percent of millennials are burnt out most of the time. If you go to university, pay off your debt to go to university, work hard, then this will result in stability. Half of us have a side hustle to make ends meet and we were asked to pour more into a system that gives less back. Hustle culture promised us freedom and success; in reality this has translated to longer hours, financial insecurity, and very little time to rest. We decide that we need to quit the job that's maxing us out, go to therapy, exercise more to reduce the stress, not sure but have you heard of Ashwagandha? Our bodies send us conflicting messages, they say to us "I don't think I can survive this" but also "I don't think I can survive without this." And both feel true.
Things are breaking down in our communities and our world, change is necessary. As an artist and a business owner in a shifting world, I am asking myself the difficult questions; like how do I find my footing here, is it serving me and my focus and my life?
I first heard of human-centred creative capitalism from Jacqueline Novogratz’s On Being episode titled Towards a Moral Revolution. I really love this term. I feel that it deeply aligns with what my business is about: human-centred, creative, collaborative. I want my community and clients to feel more than a monetary exchange, because it truly is so much more than that. I want every experience I have with my clients to be creatively driven and deeply nourishing.
In her book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World, she writes: "Learn to listen with your whole body. Listen with your ears, your eyes, all your senses. Listen not to convince or to convert, but to change yourself, spark your moral imagination, soften your hardened edges, and open yourself to the world.”
Self-care as generational wealth/healing is an ongoing practice of unlearning scarcity mindsets and prioritising emotional regulation. I think having my own children has made me realise the urgency of this more. For the first time in my life, I am finding joy in the budget and working (slowly) towards building a rich life in every sense of the word. I think burnout has a way of taking over and robbing you of the smaller moments and little goals that lead to bigger possibility.
I have found so much solace and wonder in reading sci-fi, something I truly didn't think I would ever be interested in, but in retrospect it makes total sense. My mother white, and my father coloured; in a country that didn't want them to be together they made a whole world unto themselves. It was a radical love back then and one that I am grateful to have been born into in 1992. Radical imagination stems from this for me: What we might not think is possible, is truly possible. If it can exist on a page written by a human, if it can exists through deep love then I think that is more real than anything else. Radical imagination shines a light on emerging ecosystems that are coming out of a world that is breaking down heavily but also reveals to us what is transforming. Our minds are capable of making anything come to life and there is a freedom to that. A freedom that we might not even know we are capable of yet. But it gives me hope.
Images by Ayeh Khalatbari for Linger With Cape Town South Africa