UNITED STATES—I sometimes feel like I have the weight of the world on me at times. I feel like I’m always doing something so much to the point, when I fall asleep, I don’t even realize that I am sleeping. There is only 24 hours in a single day, but I feel like I’m busy 16-18 hours a day, if you factor in commuting and meals, and sleep, I’m lucky if I get an hour or two to myself.
The moment where a stressful event surpasses, it feels like another just pops up and as frustrated as I am, and I have to trek on as if I’m not dealing with any burnout or exhaustion. Everything in my body wants to scream, but then I realize I cannot do that. I cannot expose that weakness to those surrounding me, because I’m seen as the strong one; the one who has everything in order, so if I crack, then everyone is going to crack.
However, America, I am human, just like everyone else, I’m not Superman, even though at times I think I might be and as I get older, I’m starting to realize that. I have to sleep, I have to detach from work, I have to detach from toxic family members, I have to take time to myself, otherwise you will indeed spiral into the worse mental state you may not recover.
I struggle with sleep; I have since college. My schedule was all over the place started at 6 a.m. and I wouldn’t finish till 10 or 11 p.m. most days with school and work. Then you tackle on the stress of multiple jobs to pay for college tuition and other expenses, you start to realize you have been operating on full steam not just for a few weeks, a few months, but a few years. It becomes your norm, so much to the point you don’t know how to adjust things to get back a level of normalcy.
The notion of even thinking about 8 hours of sleep is foreign to me because I can’t recall the last time I got more than 5 hours. With that said, trying to find that balance between work and life is not easy. I work to survive, but at the same time, I feel like when I don’t have to work, there is a family obligation that takes front and center that just drains every ounce of energy I have in me.
I especially give kudos to people who are caregivers and anyone who has ever had to take care of a sick parent. I had to do it nearly 6 plus months with one parent in 2025, and it was just trying. The things people say cut deep, and I mean cut deep. I spent so much time at hospitals; I told myself if I never see a hospital again, I would be ok with it. For that stressor to end, and then to turn around and be back at the hospital because another parent got sick says a ton. It’s an adjustment to life that you never quite adjust to, you just roll with the punches.
However, I do feel like I am holding up the weight of the world at times, and I just want to say, “GIVE ME A BREAK, PLEASE, I BEG YOU.” It is becoming the realization to me that life will not give you more than you can handle, but its ok for you to say I have enough on my plate and I cannot take anymore. You have to know your limit and be ok with it because you have only 1 life, and when you burnout, it’s very difficult to recover from it.
