I have identified a concerning trend that has been forming over the last 6 months, slowly getting worse in terms of Burnout. I’m getting contacted more and more by local and international high school children. These youngsters have found my website and have engaged with my content regarding Burnout. The concern I have is that the descriptors found in my content resonate with them and they feel that they are suffering from Burnout. This often results in them reaching out to me for help. This first started out with maybe one request for help a month. It has now escalated to approximately 2-3 enquiries for assistance a week. This is alarming. It would seem that youngsters are having difficulty keeping up with the workloads and expectations placed upon them at school. The classwork, extramural activities and extremely full schedules are draining these children.
The second alarming trend is how few of the parents are willing to take their child’s self-insight seriously. Most of the time the requests I receive for help come directly from the youngsters. They are all minors, I need to engage with the parents before I can assist with my Burnout Transformation Coaching process. An incredibly small number of parents are willing to concede that their child could in fact be telling the truth and suffering from Burnout. In fact, most of the parents I get to engage with feel that their child is just exaggerating. Many of the parents simply refuse to even meet with me. I can only assume that the idea that their child could potentially be suffering from a syndrome that has been classified as a mental health issue by the WHO prevents them from wanting to follow an official recovery process. In most countries across the globe, there is a major negative stigma attached to mental health issues. These parents are confronted with the reality that should it become known that their child has issues with fatigue, exhaustion, anxiety and stress. Metal health issues which directly diminish cognitive function and impact their self-image negatively. They worry that their child will be categorised, boxed and stigmatised. This stigmatization will potentially be directed by peers, schools, social circles and extramural activity groups. However, they ultimately worry that their child won’t get into university. The holy grain of future achievement. Who can blame these patients, many of them are most likely suffering from Burnout themselves? Locally and globally the economy is a mess, COVID-19 just keeps lingering and creating chaos. Personal debt is at record highs, and there is an unpredictable war in Europe. These parents are most likely shouldering on in their jobs or businesses regardless of their own fatigue, exhaustion, anxiety and stress. They are desperately trying to ignore their own drop in cognitive function and motivation. They often do this at the expense of their health, happiness and relationships.
This is the unpleasant reality that my data is starting to show. More and more of us, and that includes our kids, are suffering from BURNOUT.
If you want to know if you are suffering from Burnout I have developed a comprehensive questionnaire that you can complete to determine your BURNOUT status:
Burnout Transformation Coaching