“I want to sleep more but I can’t afford to fall behind on my work.”
“I want to eat more but it takes too much time.”
“I want to get my work done but I’m worried that it won’t be good enough.”
These sentences have been said by me or to me more in the past year and a half than ever before. As a community we have become so intensely wrapped in our classes, clubs, competitions, sports and performances that we’ve begun to question the core tenets of a healthy life. I confidently share how little sleep I get because I think it shows commitment to my studies, when in reality all I think about is how stressed I am. My therapist tells me that sleep is necessary for my brain to function and that my emotions will become unregulated and unstable, but how am I supposed to recognize instability when it is all I have ever known?
“Indoctrination” is an intense word, but in this case I think it is appropriate. Ever since I came to Westminster as a six year old in first grade my parents told me I would get so many opportunities from being at this school. Little did they know that the most significant opportunities Westminster would give me were coping strategies. I was raised in an environment where stress and dangerously high cortisol levels were seen as normal and good. No matter how much teachers, administrators or even students try to deny it, we have been conditioned to thrive off unhealthy levels of stress through the dopamine rush of good grades and constant validation.
As we gather in the weekly group meeting we sit through the annual lectures about preserving our mental well being, listen and supposedly digest what speakers are saying, but no one changes how they function. Everyone has a reason to be angry about something happening in their lives, and choosing to be happy and smile is a thin excuse for pushing problems farther away. Filling out an anonymous survey is not going to convince anyone that change needs to happen.
Westminster is not the only perpetrator making students think they are not doing enough. Members of Gen Z have been cited as having disproportionately higher rates of anxiety and depression in surveys from Gallup, the United States Census Bureau and other federal reports. Social media has become a breeding ground for comparison and self doubt. Accounts like ultimateivyleagueguide, ivy_roadmap and limmytalks, all followed by many Westminster students, prey on anxiety around college admissions to make a profit. I have gone down that comparison rabbit hole too, feeling firsthand the pressure our generation places on itself and the pressure we allow outside voices to place on us.
Human nature dictates that we compare ourselves to others to understand what we believe is right or wrong, but comparing ourselves to hypotheticals accomplishes nothing. I am tired of walking through the halls, sitting in class or going on social media and hearing people compare themselves to friends in the context of college admissions. Just the other day in advisement someone asked a friend about their dream college in front of the class. The student said, “Johns Hopkins, but I don’t think I’ll get in.” That comment devolved into the entire class analyzing this person as an applicant and deciding whether they would be admitted. I sat there listening to them break down each part of this person’s character, activities and grades with no concern for how the student might feel. Eventually I asked, “Why are we even talking about this?” After a moment of silence the conversation shifted to everyone’s GPAs and test scores.
The idea of a youth mental health crisis is often used by older generations who hope to patronize and dismiss younger people. When they cannot understand why we function the way we do they place the fault on us and the so called Gen Z stare rather than considering that we are products of a system they created. Yes, the pandemic and social media affected the mental health of many members of Gen Z, but the pandemic was five years ago, and COVID cannot keep functioning as the explanation for worsening mental health. If COVID were the only cause we would have recovered much sooner, which we have not.
You might walk away from this piece thinking about how terrible mental struggles can be, but you may still pull all-nighters and drink a Celsius every day just to function. I cannot stop you from doing that, and I understand why you might continue, especially with exams coming. Even so, the next time you push yourself for a good grade or stay up until 2:00 a.m. finishing work that was due four days ago, remember that no one should have to live in a world where self-destruction equals success.
Edited by Bethany Chern