Little Miss Overcommitted: Why We Romanticize Burnout in College

If you ever bragged about pulling an all-nighter or oddly felt proud about how much caffeine it took to keep you alive during midterms or finals, you’re not alone. It’s very normalized to joke about being chronically tired, we post aesthetics, study montages, and somehow, exhaustion becomes a trend.

However, a question to think about is: why do we glorify something that makes us feel so awful?

Hustle Culture & the “College Grind”

Part of it could be due to hustle culture. We live in a society that equates overworking with success. If you aren’t filling your schedule to the brim with internships, classes, clubs, and even a job, it can feel like you’re falling behind compared to your peers. 

Grinding until you’re running on fumes shows “proof” that you’re disciplined, ambitious, and “doing college right.” 

Pulling an all-nighter becomes a badge of honor. It’s a way of saying, “Look how much I care, and look at how dedicated I am.” 

And it doesn’t stop at school. Hustle culture follows us in every corner of our lives, and it starts to make productivity into an identity instead of a tool.

Social Media’s Effect

Social media definitely adds fuel to this fire. Trends like “studytok” make burnout look aesthetic with their cozy desk, set ups, and aesthetically pleasing notes.

However, what we don’t see are the panic attacks, skipped meals, or the moment that you realize that you’ve been looking at the same sentence for the past 30 minutes. According to a 2023 Pew Research survey, nearly 70% of young adults said social media makes them feel like they’re not doing enough. 

By curating productivity into something that’s aspirational, burnout’s ugly reality gets filtered, which leads us to believe that suffering is glamorous.

The Physical & Mental Health Cost

There’s also the comparison factor. If everyone around you is working harder, sacrificing their basic needs, and still managing to look put together, it’s easy to feel like you should push yourself past your limits as well. 

Romanticizing burnout is almost like permitting ourselves: if I’m exhausted, at least it means I’m trying.

However, the reality? Burnout is the complete opposite of glamorous; it’s very draining. It leaves us disconnected, irritable, and unable to actually enjoy the college experience that we work so hard to get. 

It is linked to depression, anxiety, and academic struggles, yet it’s something that we laugh off like it’s part of the package deal. Studies show that nearly 60% of college students report “overwhelming anxiety” at some point during the academic year. 

Burnout not only leads to mental declines, but it also physically weakens the immune system, raises the risk of chronic stress-related illness, and messes with sleep cycles.

Romanticize Balance Instead of Burnout

So maybe it’s time to rethink what we glorify. Instead of romanticizing burnout, we should start romanticizing balance. Instead of bragging about staying all night to finish work, we should be celebrating having adequate rest and prioritizing breaking our responsibilities into pieces to make them more manageable. 

Productivity doesn’t mean suffering; it can mean showing up consistently with enough energy to actually thrive in your environment.

What are some of your favorite ways to rest? Let us know @HerCampusSJSU!

• burnout
• college
• mental health
• productivity
• wellness
• work-life balance