You’re Exhausted Because You Were Never Meant to Live Like This

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Every day, millions of people drag themselves out of bed, bodies aching and minds foggy, to face a world that feels like it’s closing in from all sides. The alarm clock shrieks, the phone buzzes with notifications, and the to-do list looms ominously in the background. We down our coffee, steel our nerves, and dive into the chaos of modern life. By evening, we collapse into bed, too tired to think, only to start it all over again. This is the cycle: endless, numbing, and deeply unsatisfying.

We are exhausted, not because we’re lazy, undisciplined, or lacking gratitude, but because the world we’ve created was never meant to sustain us. The systems, the technologies, and the expectations we’ve surrounded ourselves with are incompatible with the simple truth of our humanity.

 

The Grind That Never Ends

Productivity: the sacred idol of our time. Work harder. Achieve more. Never stop. What was once a nine-to-five is now a 24/7 grind, where fewer people do more work while the richest among us hoard the spoils. Every year, teams shrink under the guise of “no budget,” yet there’s always money for lavish executive bonuses. You’re expected to juggle the workload of three people and still act grateful for the opportunity.

When we give everything we have to our jobs, there’s nothing left for ourselves or the people we care about. Exhaustion has become normalized, even celebrated. The culture of overwork glorifies draining every ounce of energy in service to a machine that doesn’t even know you exist. Meanwhile, mainstream media blames social media, accusing it of making us self-centered and selfish. Like everything else, it avoids addressing the real issue and exposing the machine it serves: we’re in survival mode. How can we pour into someone else’s cup when ours is completely empty?

This isn’t just capitalism at work; it’s a collective delusion. Even our free time has been colonized. Hobbies are side hustles. Rest is rebranded as productivity hacks. You’re not relaxing; you’re “boosting performance.” The truth is, the system isn’t broken. It’s doing exactly what it was built to do: extract until there’s nothing left.

This culture of relentless productivity doesn’t just sap our mental and emotional energy, it takes a physical toll as well. Our bodies, ancient machines wired for a different pace of life, are forced to adapt to the inhumane.

 

When Your Body Becomes Collateral Damage

Humans weren’t designed to sit under flickering fluorescent lights for eight hours a day, staring at screens. We also weren’t meant to function on caffeine and cortisol, sleep six hours a night, and do it all over again the next day. But here we are, pretending this is normal.

Our bodies are ancient machines, wired for sunlight, movement, and rest. Instead, we’re cramming them into a world that treats balance as a weakness. Chronic fatigue? Insomnia? Digestive issues? Restlessness you can’t name? You’re experiencing what happens when humanity is forced to conform to the inhumane. 

Modern life doesn’t just ignore your body’s needs; it actively works against them. You are exhausted and unhappy because the system wasn’t designed to see you flourish. The solutions we’re offered? Pills, apps, diets, band-aids for bullet wounds meant to keep you going. 

 

The Blame Game

If you’re exhausted, the system will tell you it’s your fault. You’re not managing your time well enough. You’re not taking care of yourself properly. You’re not hustling hard enough to build your dream life, meditating consistently enough, or optimizing efficiently enough.

By making you think the problem is you, the system escapes scrutiny. Your exhaustion isn’t caused by the relentless demands of work or the unceasing noise of modern life. No, it’s because you’re not trying hard enough, or so you are told. And we believe it because it’s easier to blame ourselves than to confront the immovable reality of a world designed to exploit us. A world that grinds us down and then blames us for breaking. 

The system thrives on this narrative because it keeps you chasing an unattainable ideal. Exhaustion becomes a sign that you’re doing enough to deserve your place in the world. But the truth is, no amount of effort will ever satisfy a machine built to demand infinite growth. You’re not supposed to win. You’re supposed to keep running.

 

What We’ve Lost

What’s missing in all this noise is something so simple it feels almost impossible to name: stillness. The kind of stillness that comes from lying in a field and watching clouds drift by, or sitting by a fire and letting your mind wander. The kind of stillness that isn’t punctuated by the need to be productive or entertained.

But stillness is hard to come by these days. Even when we manage to carve out a moment of quiet, we often feel the pull to fill it—with music, with a podcast, with the infinite scroll of a glowing screen. It’s as if we’ve forgotten how to be alone with ourselves. And in losing that, we’ve lost something essential.

What We Were Meant For

Humans were meant to wake with the sun, to work with our hands, to connect deeply with others, and to rest when the day is done. But it goes deeper than that. We were meant to exist in harmony with the natural world, to find purpose not in constant striving but in presence. Our bodies were designed to move, to breathe deeply, and to adapt to the changing rhythms of the seasons. Our minds were meant to wander, to create, to solve problems not under pressure but through curiosity and collaboration.

We were meant to feel the earth beneath our feet, to hear the rustle of leaves, to taste food grown with care. We were meant for stories told around a fire, for laughter that echoes into the night, for a life that’s lived, not performed.

 

The Question Worth Asking

The question isn’t how to keep going in a system that drains you dry. It’s whether the system itself is worth upholding. If the price of participation is exhaustion, perhaps the better choice is to opt out—slowly, quietly, in ways that reclaim the humanity that’s been lost.

This isn’t about abandoning responsibilities or romanticizing a past that wasn’t perfect. It’s about recognizing the cracks in the foundation and deciding, piece by piece, to build something better. A life that aligns with the rhythms of our body, our mind, and our soul.

 

A World Beyond Exhaustion

Imagining a different way of living feels radical, even dangerous. It means questioning the systems we’ve built and the stories we’ve been told. It means asking whether progress is always worth the cost, whether convenience is always an improvement, whether we might actually need less instead of more.

Reclaiming our lives requires small, deliberate steps. We need to retake control of the parts of our lives we can influence. This starts with being mindful of what we consume—what we buy, what we watch, what we allow into our mental and physical space. We need better boundaries between work and personal lives, a separation that protects our well-being and reminds us that we are not defined solely by our productivity. We need to rest without guilt, to let go of the fear of missing out, and to embrace the truth that life isn’t a competition.

However, this path is not without challenges. The system relies on individuals within it who haven’t yet woken up to the source of their misery. These individuals, still deeply entrenched in the narrative of overwork and overconsumption, may label you as weird, lazy, or even selfish for stepping back. They may pressure you to conform, to fall in line with the expectations they themselves are bound by. In extreme cases, they might even shun you for daring to question the status quo.

A world beyond exhaustion is possible, but it requires courage: courage to pause, to reflect, and to choose a different way. In choosing to reclaim our humanity, we don’t just survive, we open the door to a life where flourishing becomes the norm, not the exception. It’s not about rejecting modernity altogether but about embracing the parts of it that align with a life worth living. In doing so, we can begin to create a world that honors not only our need to survive but also our capacity to flourish, just like every other being on this beautiful planet.