I was chatting to a friend a few months ago and he theorised that in our lifetime we would see a lot of our close friends, family and acquaintances be diagnosed with mild to heavy mental illnesses such as anxiety, stress induced panic attacks, sleep dept, etc. Up until recently I was not sure if I would agree with this statement but it has become so evident to me that may well be the case. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want anyone I know to be diagnosed with anything but the pressures we receive from society in this modern age are forcing us in that direction.

The world does not have the ‘distractions’, horrors and issues it once did such as world war, depression etc and we are intelligent enough to know that we are better off without these things but it means that especially for young people there is a constant pressure and expectation to be a superhero. How are 18, 19 and 2o year olds expected to move out of home, hold a job, pay the rent, maintain healthy relationships, exercise, eat well, get 9 hours of sleep, attend full time university or TAFE, have social fun times and some downtime without going just a little, just a little lint ball sized about of insane. I know I have, and that may not be saying much since people have always said that about me but you get the idea.

This image of the all-star superhero young person is not realistic in the slightest and society needs to recognise this. More specially job managers and teachers need to know this and not be adding more wood to the pressure fire when our youth just need to be cut some slack. Of course excessive use of drugs and alcohol are only going to quicken your demise but the average student who just wants to pass their classes, pay the rent and have some time to have fun these days is generally at risk of joker-like insanity.

For this reason it is important for todays youth to know that it is ok to fail, it is ok to learn a lesson and perhaps most importantly of all we need to learn that we can’t do it ALL. Give yourself a break if you can, enjoy the finer things in life, gather yourself and you mind and live the way that you want to.

Flash.