We’ve Normalized Being Unwell at Work

This is definitely not what I usually write about. Most of my work focuses on consumer behavior, beauty, fashion, and marketing. But when I came across a recent Fast Company article stating that 51% of employees have cried at work within the last month, it honestly made me stop for a minute. After spending almost 10 years in the corporate world, I think a lot of people are carrying way more than they let on.

I remember early in my career having a boss who normalized stress to a level that now feels unhealthy to look back on. Being overwhelmed was expected. Staying late was expected. Being emotionally drained was almost worn like a badge of honor. If you were struggling, the solution was usually just to push harder.

And when you’re young and ambitious, you absorb that really quickly. You start thinking that being successful means constantly operating under pressure. You stop questioning whether the environment itself is the problem because everyone around you is functioning the same way.

But being in healthier work environments later in my career completely changed my perspective. Having supportive leadership changes everything. Feeling respected changes everything. Working somewhere that doesn’t make you feel anxious all the time changes everything. You think more clearly, you perform better, and you start realizing how much your environment impacts your mental health, confidence, and overall quality of life.

And I know that saying leave or find something better is much easier said than done. People have responsibilities, financial pressure, fear, and uncertainty. But I also think some environments slowly make people stop trying. They clock in at 9, leave at 5, do what they need to do, and emotionally disconnect from the work entirely. The passion disappears, the creativity disappears, and it shows.

I don’t think people naturally want to operate that way. I think unhealthy environments can slowly push people into survival mode for so long that eventually they stop feeling connected to what they’re doing.

We’ve normalized emotional exhaustion in corporate culture to a point where people barely recognize it anymore. There’s a difference between being challenged and constantly feeling depleted, and I think a lot more people are quietly struggling than we realize.

Dania Khalife