{"id":6520,"date":"2025-11-14T11:35:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=6520"},"modified":"2025-11-14T11:35:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:35:58","slug":"the-aestheticization-of-burnouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/opine\/2025\/11\/14\/the-aestheticization-of-burnouts\/","title":{"rendered":"The aestheticization of burnouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all love a good performance, ain\u2019t that right? Who doesn\u2019t enjoy Soul Sisters, The Nutcracker or All I Want for Christmas Is You when the season comes around? We\u2019re filled with joy and nostalgia when we see a great show.<\/span><\/p>\n

But we really don\u2019t need to go to the cinema, or even a screen, to watch brilliant performances. They\u2019re everywhere on campus. Your classmate sighing dramatically about their 9am lecture, your friend who hasn\u2019t slept in two nights because \u201cy\u2019know, deadlines\u201d, the person posting study-session stories like they\u2019re a Netflix original. Everyone\u2019s acting, and the play isn\u2019t about learning anymore. No, it\u2019s about looking exhausted enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s something dangerously beautiful about the image of the overworked student. Not the feeling, of course; the idea. The idea of staying up till 4 am, surviving on Monsters and blind panic, means you\u2019re doing something meaningful. It\u2019s everywhere: in films, on TikTok, even in the way we talk to each other. <\/span>Burnout has been fused with the language of ambition.<\/span> Tired means dedicated. Overwhelmed means passionate. Saying \u201cI\u2019m stressed\u201d becomes a kind of praise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear. This is not a student problem. It\u2019s a narrative problem. We\u2019ve been taught to treat exhaustion like a badge, a signal that you care enough to collapse. And when the performance is everywhere, it starts to feel like a requirement. It\u2019s no wonder we start to act the part. Looking exhausted is safer than admitting you\u2019re unsure, or, even worse, just\u2026 fine. Rest looks suspicious in a world that celebrates struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the glorification of busyness isn\u2019t harmless. It flattens everything, like a steamroller of the mind. Thoughtfulness, curiosity, creativity\u2026 they don\u2019t fit neatly into a Google Calendar. Real learning takes time. But slow doesn\u2019t trend. You can\u2019t post a screenshot of patience. So, we end up chasing a version of success that\u2019s loud, visible, and exhausting. We study out loud. We rest publicly. We frame breakdowns in soft lighting and motivational fonts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, and rest isn\u2019t safe either. You\u2019ve probably seen it: the Sunday \u201creset routine\u201d reels, where someone in a grey sweatshirt and a strawberry headband wipes down their desk, lights a candle, and calls it healing. The notion of rest has become another task. It\u2019s branded, optimised, measured, and filtered. If you don\u2019t have a Spotify playlist for your skincare, are you even relaxing correctly? <\/span>If rest becomes just another job, it\u2019s no surprise we run straight back to the one that at least feels productive.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re not performing stress, it can feel like you\u2019re doing uni wrong. Everyone\u2019s booked. Everyone\u2019s running. You open your calendar and see colour-coded anxiety. You\u2019re chasing coursework, lecture notes well written, part-time jobs, reading you\u2019ll never finish (and you don\u2019t want to), and that elusive feeling that you\u2019re becoming someone impressive.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the library; don\u2019t get me started. It\u2019s the most competitive silent space on campus. People race for seats like it\u2019s Black Friday. You sit down, unzip your tote bag, take out a laptop, water bottle, three books you won\u2019t open, and stare into the middle distance just long enough to be seen. It\u2019s part learning, part silent performance art. People laugh about performative males, while they do the exact same thing. Studying becomes less about what\u2019s happening inside your brain and more about proving you\u2019re \u201cstill in the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, universities don\u2019t cause this culture directly. But they certainly don\u2019t discourage it. There\u2019s always another opportunity, another deadline, another \u201clife-changing\u201d application you should definitely submit by midnight. The message is quiet but constant: your value is in your output. And if you break down, well… that\u2019s your problem. From the outside, it still looks like success. That said, our Uni is doing a lot right. Therapy slots, wellbeing events, mental health surveys and campaigns, drop-in sessions… it\u2019s clear that support is available, and that someone is thinking about how we\u2019re doing. But culture doesn\u2019t change from a flyer, and the real pressure often comes from somewhere else entirely: social media feeds full of overachievers, friends we silently compare ourselves to, and the feeling that if we\u2019re not overwhelmed, we\u2019re falling behind. It\u2019s not just the university that needs to shift, it\u2019s us too; the systems we\u2019ve internalised, the metrics we\u2019ve learned to chase, and the stories we keep telling each other about what success is supposed to look like.<\/span><\/p>\n

We even joke about burnout constantly, but the jokes are a cover. Most of us are just scared. We\u2019re scared to stop, scared to rest, scared that someone else is doing more and doing it better. So we default to motion. We keep sprinting, half-resenting everything we signed up for but too afraid to say no.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the truth is, this pressure doesn\u2019t come from laziness or fragility. It comes from the opposite. Some students I know are working far harder than anyone should have to just to stay afloat. We\u2019re tired because we care. And that care is being put into a system that mistakes collapse for commitment.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what should we do? Stop applauding the collapse. <\/span>Stop turning exhaustion into a lifestyle.<\/span> Stop treating breakdowns like plot points in some glamorous academic drama. Rest shouldn\u2019t feel like rebellion. Saying no shouldn\u2019t feel like failure. You don\u2019t need to be on fire to be seen. You don\u2019t need to earn sleep. You don\u2019t need to apologise for not joining the fifth society of this week. You are not a machine. You are not a productivity project. You are not a walking to-do list in Adidas.<\/span><\/p>\n

University should be a place for thinking, not just performing. For becoming someone, not proving that you already are. So yes, we\u2019re all part of the play. But it\u2019s okay to step offstage. To walk home early. To stop clapping for the spectacle of suffering. The curtain will still rise tomorrow. You don\u2019t need to collapse on scene to matter.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all love a good performance, ain\u2019t that right? Who doesn\u2019t enjoy Soul Sisters, The Nutcracker or All I Want for Christmas Is You when the season comes around? We\u2019re filled with joy and nostalgia when we see a great show. But we really don\u2019t need to go to the cinema, or even a screen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":6521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[570,1032,1461,1142,805],"wf_post_folders":[337],"class_list":{"0":"post-6520","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opine","8":"tag-aesthetic","9":"tag-burnout","10":"tag-cerni-roig-rabada","11":"tag-opine","12":"tag-university"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Cerni Roig","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/cerni-roig\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Burnout-Article-Image-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Opine<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Opine<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Aesthetic<\/a>","burnout<\/a>","Cerni Roig Rabada<\/a>","Opine<\/a>","university<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Aesthetic<\/span>","burnout<\/span>","Cerni Roig Rabada<\/span>","Opine<\/span>","university<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 9 months ago","modified":"Updated 9 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 14 November 2025","modified":"Updated on 14 November 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 14 November 2025 11:35","modified":"Updated on 14 November 2025 11:35"},"featured_img_caption":"Tara Winstead via Pexels","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6522,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520\/revisions\/6522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6520"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}