Nobody really talks about it openly, but many young people in Africa are tired in a way sleep cannot fix.
It is not the kind of tiredness that comes from working hard for a day. It is the kind that sits in your chest. The kind that makes you question yourself when you are alone. The kind that shows up at night when your phone is quiet and you are left with your thoughts.
From a very young age, we are taught that there is only one acceptable direction in life. Forward. Fast. Successful. Anything else feels like failure.
You must graduate early. You must get a good job. You must start making money. You must help your family. You must build a house. You must marry. You must not fall behind.
There is no space to pause. No room to breathe. No permission to be unsure.
For many young Africans, success is not just personal ambition. It feels like survival. It feels like responsibility. It feels like carrying the dreams of parents who sacrificed everything and siblings who are watching closely.
So even when you are exhausted, you keep going.
Even when you are confused, you pretend you are fine.
Even when you feel lost, you smile and say “God dey.”
Social media makes it worse.
Every day, you scroll past people your age buying cars, building houses, traveling, launching businesses. You see captions about hustle, discipline, and grinding. Nobody posts the panic attacks. Nobody posts the sleepless nights. Nobody posts the fear of not being enough.
You start to measure your life against highlights. And slowly, quietly, something inside you begins to break.
Many young people are not lazy. They are overwhelmed.
They are not ungrateful. They are burnt out.
They are not weak. They are carrying too much without support.
Some are working jobs they hate because quitting feels irresponsible.
Some are chasing dreams they are no longer sure about because changing direction feels like failure.
Some are smiling on the outside while battling anxiety, depression, and shame on the inside.
In Africa, rest is often mistaken for laziness.
Struggle is romanticised.
Suffering is praised as character-building.
But the truth is, constantly living under pressure is not strength. It is damage.
A generation is growing up believing their worth is tied only to how fast they “make it.” And when things don’t work out quickly, they turn the blame inward.
“I’m not doing enough.”
“I’m behind.”
“I’ve failed.”
What many young people actually need is not more pressure.
They need understanding.
They need space.
They need reassurance that life is not a race with a single finish line.
Making it does not look the same for everyone.
And arriving later does not mean arriving wrong.
It is okay to be figuring things out.
It is okay to change your mind.
It is okay to move slowly.
It is okay to rest.
Success should not cost your peace, your mental health, or your sense of self.
We need to start talking about this honestly. Because the pressure to “make it” is not just pushing young people forward. For many, it is quietly breaking them.
And silence will not save us.
