The Normalization of Exhaustion

I don’t like speaking badly about this country. Or any country, really.

All countries are beautiful in their own way, with the good and the bad. No place is perfect. Some simply feel more like home to certain souls than others.

And this country once represented something extraordinary to the world.
Freedom.
Opportunity.
Resilience.
The idea that people could arrive here searching for a better life and actually build one.

And there is still enormous beauty here.

Mountains that leave you speechless.
Rivers that look painted by hand.
Forests, deserts, lakes, little towns, hiking trails, endless roads facing the ocean at sunrise.

This country is so vast that many people spend their entire lives without ever truly seeing it.

Some never leave the state where they were born.
Some work so hard for so many years that they never really have the time, energy, or financial freedom to explore the beauty surrounding them.

And maybe that is part of the sadness too.

So much land.
So much possibility.
So much beauty.

And yet so many people trapped inside survival mode long enough to barely experience it.

Because lately, it has become very hard not to notice how deeply exhausted everyone seems.

Not just tired.
Exhausted.

Physically.
Emotionally.
Financially.
Spiritually.

And the saddest part is how normal it has all become.

Like if normalizing it somehow makes it acceptable.

People rushing everywhere.
Working constantly.
Eating whatever is fast because nobody has time anymore.
Living under permanent stress while pretending this is simply adulthood.

Or maybe that is just what we were trained to accept.

And now the consequences are everywhere.

The illnesses.
The anxiety.
The exhaustion.
The endless pressure to produce.
The dependence on medications.
The way people choose professions simply to survive instead of because they truly love them.
The way rest almost feels illegal unless it is “earned.”

And then there are the things many people outside this country find unbelievable.

Children practicing active shooter drills at school.
People terrified of getting sick because of medical costs.
Elderly people still working because retirement is no longer enough.
Human beings reduced to productivity statistics while politicians argue endlessly about everything except the actual emotional and physical wellbeing of the population.

And yes, I compare.

Because when you travel, you notice things.

You notice countries where healthcare is treated more like a human right than a luxury.
Places where people sit outside talking calmly for hours.
Eating slower.
Walking more.
Living with less noise inside them.

And suddenly you begin wondering:

When did exhaustion become our normal state of being?

When did survival become more important than living?

That is the part people rarely say out loud.

Not because they do not feel it.
I am sure many do.

But because once you truly acknowledge how unhealthy a way of life has become, it becomes impossible to completely unsee it.

And maybe that is the real heartbreak underneath all of this:

something profoundly human has been lost underneath the speed, greed, exhaustion, violence, fear, and normalization of survival.

Not only here.
Everywhere in different ways.

But for a country once admired around the world as the dream, the shift feels especially painful to witness.

Because this is still a beautiful place.

And that is exactly why watching so many people slowly lose themselves inside a way of living that no longer feels fully human can feel heartbreaking.