The Continuum of Exhaustion: Is Burnout the Forerunner to Bliss?

Dear ones,

Across generations, burnout wears different masks. The Baby Boomers and Gen X were shaped by stoicism, productivity, and self-sacrifice, the unspoken belief that worth is earned through exhaustion. Their burnout is often silent, unassisted, marked by depletion and a quiet endurance that borders on martyrdom. Generation Z, by contrast, has the language of mental health, the permission to name their needs, and a fierce sensitivity to imbalance. They are well-informed, nourished, and self-aware, and yet they too are burning out, not from silence, but from overstimulation, hyperconnection, and the psychic weight of a world in distress. Such a world is veiled in mistrust, a generation alert to the gaps between what is said and what is true.

What we might be witnessing is not just personal fatigue, but a continuum of exhaustion, the nervous system of our collective lineage crying out for rebalancing.