The Gen-Z Burnout: Why We’re Tired Before 30
Zaima Ahasan :
We are often described as young, energetic, and full of potential. Yet, behind the filtered photos and motivational posts, many of us in our twenties are simply exhausted.
It’s not the kind of tiredness that disappears after a good night’s sleep — it’s the deeper kind that sits quietly between emotional fatigue and silent frustration.
For many young people in Bangladesh, burnout has become an unspoken reality.
It shows up in the form of demotivation, restlessness, and a constant sense of falling behind.
We make jokes about it online, but it’s becoming harder to laugh when almost everyone feels the same way.
Part of the problem lies in the contradictory messages we grew up with. Our parents’ generation believed that hard work was the guaranteed path to success.
But our generation is facing a different reality — one where degrees don’t ensure jobs, where prices rise faster than salaries, and where even after giving our best, stability feels out of reach.
On top of that, the pressure of visibility has never been higher. Social media constantly reminds us that someone our age is doing “better.”
One person is buying an apartment, another is launching a startup, and someone else is already married and “settled.”
We end up comparing our everyday struggles to other people’s highlight reels. It’s a race that no one remembers signing up for, yet everyone feels forced to run.
Work culture hasn’t helped much either. Many offices in Bangladesh still operate with outdated systems — long hours, little flexibility, and an unspoken rule that staying late means working hard.
Productivity is often measured by presence, not performance. Young professionals are expected to be endlessly available, while freelancers and entrepreneurs fight their own battles with irregular payments, taxes, and unstable systems. In short, we are overworked, underpaid, and constantly over stimulated.
Emotionally, we’re also carrying more than we acknowledge. The pandemic reshaped our sense of safety and time. Friendships have become more fragile; relationships are harder to maintain; therapy remains expensive or stigmatised.
The collective pressure to keep functioning to stay “fine” even when we’re mentally drained, has created a quiet kind of exhaustion that’s easy to ignore until it becomes overwhelming.
This generation’s burnout may not just be a sign of weakness. It could be a reflection of our awareness that we’re not willing to live the same way just because it’s what’s always been done.
We’re tired not because we’re lazy, but because we care about building something real, about doing work that matters, and about living in alignment with our values.
If anything, this exhaustion might be our generation’s collective wake-up call. To slow down, to redefine ambition, and to remind ourselves that we don’t have to burn out to prove our worth. Because being tired before 30 shouldn’t be our normal. It should be the beginning of change.
(The writer is CEO & director, Pastry chef Bachelor of patisserie arts, Taylors University, Malaysia Dual degree with University of Toulouse, France)