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by Melanie Whyte
“Holy Fvck” will be her last tour, according to the singer. The singer wrote from her hotel room that she couldn’t get out of bed. They made the decision pretty clear, even though they haven’t given more information on their current state of health. I can no longer do this. The next tour will be my final one. I would like to say thank you.
This kind of representation — that an icon who so many people look up to can walk away from a draining work environment — gives hope that maybe, just maybe, so can you.
Her health has suffered due to the number of albums and tours she has done. Three strokes and a heart attack were the result of a near-fatal overdose by the singer. Fans were upset by the tour news, but they were sympathetic. If the tour has to end then it’s heartbreaking but we don’t want a repeat situation of this year.
A recent pattern of performers canceling tours or taking a break from the spotlight to focus on their health has been announced. At the same time that trends like “quiet quitting” are making the rounds, there is a need to enforce a more sustainable work life balance.
Is it finally happening that people are stepping away from hustle culture? To learn more about the benefits of seeing this play out in the public eye and how to practice putting our well-being first, POPSUGAR spoke with a licensed therapist.
Fame Comes With Some Unique Mental Health Struggles
In order to address their mental health, celebrities are willing to make career compromises. When they reach the top of the mountain, they realize it was a bait and switch. Being famous isn’t always good for you. “If you ask famous performers like actors and musicians, they will tell you privately that almost everyone in their industry is depressed or anxious, and I’ve noticed five main reasons for this.”
Some of the root issues celebrities struggle with are listed below. Even if you aren’t famous, some of the struggles may feel real.
- Achievement vs. Fulfillment. They’ve worked incredibly hard and achieved the career success they wanted, but it didn’t fulfill them. “It didn’t bring the joy, satisfaction, and meaning they thought it would,” Tucker says. “It left them empty, with a thought like, ‘Is this all there is?'” Depression becomes almost inevitable when that realization happens.
- Identity and Value. “Before they achieved their success, they didn’t develop a sense of self-worth, so the role they play as an actor or musician temporarily becomes their identity and source of validation,” Tucker says. Therefore, as long as they’re in their character or on the concert stage, they feel significant — even loved, at a superficial level — and they escape the insecurities and uncertainties for a while. “So the performance becomes a drug, and they only feel like themselves, truly alive, when they’re performing,” he adds. But when the show is over, they crash back down to reality. “That can become a deadly cycle, and the artists who realize that often decide to step away from it and do the inner work to grow and get healthy.”
- Pressure. Nothing is ever “good enough” in their industry; therefore, it’s difficult for the person to feel good enough. “The record company always wants the next album to top the success of the previous release,” Tucker says. “The movie producer needs the actor to propel the movie to an even bigger box-office total than the one before.” There’s also the weighty pressure of comparison to their competition.
- The “Why.” They’ve lost their “why” — their reason for doing what they do, or their “why” wasn’t a healthy, fulfilling reason in the first place, and that fact finally came to the surface. “Especially once they’ve reached a certain level of fame and financial success, they no longer feel challenged,” Tucker says. “Creative people, especially, need challenges to stay inspired and motivated to keep growing.”
- “Yes Men.” Celebrities often end up surrounded by people who need them and the financial benefits they provide. “It creates a power dynamic where the people around them don’t have the position or the courage to tell the celebrity the hard truths they need to hear,” Tucker says. “It creates an isolation effect where the celebrity has an ‘entourage’ but has no one who’s a true peer to speak into their life.”
But Celebs Are Stuck in This Burnout Loop Right Here With Us
Our favorite artists have a lot of the same issues as we do. Tucker says that they have dating conflicts, tension in their marriages, and children who stress them out. They have to stay on constantly. Their bodies are in a fight-or-flight state because they know people are watching them. According to Tucker, celebrities tend to have a higher amount of childhood trauma than the general population. It’s true that celebrities have more resources at their disposal, but it’s also true that no one is immune to burnout. They weren’t even them.
Quiet quitting is a trendy term that has arisen as a result of the backlash against hustle culture. When it would mean blurring your work-life boundaries, the idea is to do your job but resist the pressure. This is the newest nickname for what many people are feeling, but it’s just another iteration of what we’ve been seeing over the last couple of years. We may have embraced being a “girl boss” before the Pandemic, but it has made people think about their priorities and their health. Many people who put their lives on pause during lock down are finding it hard to remember why they did it in the first place, and they are not going to do it again.
Tucker says that hustle culture is just selling the wrong idea. Hard work and sacrifice are required to reach any worthwhile goal. The myth is that a life is waiting at the end of hustling. From the inside out, we need to build a life. We can start to hustle from a foundation of fulfillment and joy instead of seeking it from the outside.
What We Can Learn From These Celebs About Prioritizing Our Well-Being
It is easier to prevent burnout than it is to cure it. Tucker says to take the ENP test: energy, negativity, and productivity. You’re heading toward burnout if you’re consistently feeling a lack of energy, negative or cynical, and less productive. It’s a good idea to reorganize how you spend your time. Tucker says to start with small changes so you’re more likely to follow through. It requires healthy choices in three areas of self- care. If one leg is out of balance, the whole stool can fall.
It’s difficult to put your needs first when other people rely on you. There are over 70 shows left to play. A lot of people are disappointed. Setting boundaries takes practice, which is why it is so uncomfortable at the beginning, but it is worth it if you put your health first. The income that comes from touring can be hard to walk away from. This representation of an icon who can walk away from a draining work environment gives hope that maybe, just maybe, you can as well.
Image Source: Joseph Okpako / Getty; NBC / Getty ; Kevin Mazur / Getty