For years, society has normalized the idea that in order to achieve our goals, we must exhaust ourselves to a breaking point; however, in letting our work absorb everyday life, we can lose our own unique drive motivating us to achieve our goals in the first place. In 2025, Crisis Coordinator and Clinical Counselor at University of Colorado Denver Amber Johnston wrote that “burnout doesn’t hit like a lightning bolt,” but rather “festers” over time. This is why it is important to examine how much energy we are putting into our goals so that we can combat the festering of burnout.
As teenagers grow into adults, the pressure to become great in some way can start to sink in. Nevertheless, it is necessary to develop the skill of balancing mental health while working towards aspirations. One must find something truly enjoyable so that struggling becomes a healthy challenge that will help enhance the experience with that subject. A good challenge will push us to our best, but a harmful struggle will wear out the enjoyment of our work.
Struggling can feel like a gray area because there is not a specific way to challenge oneself; everyone has different workloads, interests, lives, and external factors, which encourages the idea that one should take time to figure out how a healthy struggle should look in their own life. Acknowledging where we differ from others is crucial to our growth as people. The pressure of others taking on certain loads can make us feel like we need to put more on ourselves, but it is important to plan in accordance with our own lives.
While a challenging course load may require some late nights, making sleep deprivation a habit should not be the pathway to attain goals. The constant choice of work over aspects of well-being allows the pressure of success to hold the control, which makes rest dependent on achievement. There is a difference between wanting to be challenged and reaching beyond one’s width.
In January 2026, ice skater Alysa Liu, a U.S. Olympic gold medalist, stated in an interview that she “[loves] struggling” because “it [makes] her feel alive.” Before reaching a healthy relationship with her workload, Liu had gone through a burnout of her own. At the age of 13, Liu became the youngest U.S. ice skating national champion–launching a career in which she constantly had to perform at a high intensity. As she prioritized her career over other things such as her mental health and time with friends and family, she began to fall out of love with the sport and eventually quit at the age of 16.
When Liu stepped away from ice skating, she began regaining control of her life. In a separate interview, Liu commented on how taking a step back allowed her to realize that she “was never really passionate” about ice skating before she quit in 2022. In efforts to reorganize her life, Liu started going to concerts, skiing, going to school, getting her driver’s license, and so on. Only after she reconnected with herself and her interests did Liu discover an authentic love for ice skating. Not only did Liu then return for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but she came back with an agency for her art. She chose her own music, costumes, hairstyles, and choreography, which ultimately contributed to her success, not just as a gold-winning medalist, but also in becoming an icon about her mindset towards her career.
Liu no longer saw the Olympics as an ending point or final program, which played a major factor in her newfound relationship with ice skating. The inability to see beyond a goal fuels burnout because it reinforces the message that there is only one thing to work for. In reality, there are still other parts of life to consider, including sleep, hobbies, and time with friends and family.
It is necessary to allow ourselves room to grow when working towards our goals; the beauty of ambition is that it comes from many feelings, thoughts, and experiences. When describing how her relationship with ice skating has changed since 2022, Liu stated that she “[connects] with everything, but [is] not attached to anything.” Although there can be many ways to balance out one’s life, her statement epitomizes a healthy relationship between oneself and one’s ambitions.
Taking breaks and admitting when life gets hard shows strength, not weakness. We can be in control of ourselves, despite the pressure coming from school, sports, jobs, and other parts of our lives. It is in our own agency to prevent burnout, so we must create a space for our goals to thrive, not die.
