There’s a phrase you hear all the time on campus, passed between students in corridors, “Well… we did this to ourselves.”
It sounds reasonable. Almost reassuring, in a strange way. Of course, it’s hard; we all knew that coming in. Healthcare degrees were never meant to be easy. But that phrase doesn’t just acknowledge difficulty. It quietly shuts down what comes after it.
Because the issue on campus isn’t that healthcare is hard. That part is obvious from the very beginning. Long hours, constant assessments, emotional weight, pressure to perform, it’s built into the structure of the course itself. No one is surprised by that.
What isn’t talked about is what happens when that pressure starts to catch up with people.
When someone says they’re overwhelmed or falling behind, the response often isn’t space or understanding. It’s a subtle dismissal. A reminder that this is what they signed up for, as if that should make it easier to carry.
On campus, that mindset spreads quickly.
Lecture halls are full, libraries are packed, and everyone looks like they’re managing. People show up, take notes, and keep moving. From the outside, it feels like everyone else has figured it out. But underneath that, there’s a different reality.
People are exhausted, but they don’t say, “I’m exhausted.”
They’re overwhelmed, but they don’t say, “I’m overwhelmed.”
They’re struggling, but they don’t say, “I’m struggling.”
Instead, everything gets filtered, and all that’s shown to you is a perfect version of them.
“It’s just been a busy week.”
“I’m a bit behind, but I’ll catch up.”
“I’m just tired.”
People give just enough honesty to feel normal, but never anything to make them feel vulnerable. From my experience, this is because on campus, there’s an unspoken standard: you’re expected to handle it. Quietly and independently. Without making it visible.
And the moment you step outside of that, it can feel like you’re exposing something you shouldn’t. Like you’re admitting you’re not cut out for the healthcare field, or this job. That’s where things start to shift.
Passion turns into pressure.
Motivation turns into obligation.
Commitment turns into pushing through, no matter what it costs.
Struggling stops feeling like a natural response to a demanding environment. Instead, it starts to feel like a personal failure.
But choosing a difficult path doesn’t mean you lose the right to find it difficult. That’s the part campus culture often gets wrong. There’s a difference between preparing students for a challenging career and creating an environment where difficulty can’t be openly acknowledged. One builds resilience, the other builds silence.
And silence is what usually lingers on in our heads and settles in.
It shows up in group chats where no one wants to be the first to admit they’re not okay.
It shows up after lectures where questions go unasked.
It shows up in friendships where everyone assumes the other person is coping better than they are.
Over time, that silence becomes normal.
Burnout starts to feel like part of the degree.
Emotional fatigue becomes something you’re expected to manage on your own.
And asking for help starts to feel like something you shouldn’t need, instead of something you’re allowed to ask for.
So, the real issue on campus isn’t the workload or the endless exams. It’s the expectation that you have to deal with all of it without showing the weight.
Because you can care deeply about healthcare and still feel overwhelmed by studying it.
You can be committed to it and still struggle within it.
You can want this path and still question whether you’re coping the way you’re supposed to.
Those things don’t cancel each other out – they exist at the same time. And pretending they don’t doesn’t make students stronger. It just makes them quieter.
Healthcare will probably always be hard. That’s not something the campus can or can’t change. But the way we talk about our struggles and our experience with them can change. Because the problem isn’t that it’s hard. It’s that, on campus, we act like you’re supposed to handle it as if it isn’t, and it’s a piece of cake.
This week, acknowledge moments of self-doubt and express these with the people close to you. You may be surprised to find that they feel the exact same way.