05/07/2026
𝗠𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗔
In today’s generation, the youth are both highly competitive and vulnerable. Competence is off the charts, with thousands of professionals passing the board exams every year. At the same time, more and more young people are becoming depressed.
Why?
Times are different. The older generation believes in security through a diploma. So, in the early years of today’s workforce, we are led to believe that we have to graduate to earn a good future. We have to pursue certain occupations, particularly those with board exams, to earn a good future. But is this still true today?
To begin with, more and more lawyers remain jobless. More and more accountants do not work in their field of study. And in truth, civil engineering has become a deeply saturated profession. The worst-case scenario can also be said for fields without board exams in general.
To add, it has become harder to work abroad in some countries. Before, other countries hired non-locals due to the low number of professionals in their own countries. Today, even those countries have too many educated locals to accommodate. As a result, OFWs are eventually laid off. What happens is that this becomes a breeding ground for cheap labor, especially for OFWs. People work for compensation that is less than what they deserve just to earn a living—to survive.
I don’t think this generation is lazy. Labor does not necessarily equate to hard work. I just think it is very hard to stay motivated in today’s setting. Depression is the new laziness. If we were lazy, then why are we incomparably competitive?
Why is our generation so competitive? To survive. We know that there are fewer and fewer jobs for us out there. More and more people compete for one position for which we are more than qualified.
What is survival? To live a decent life—a respectable house, enough income to pay the bills, and meals on our table. Nowadays, even the simplest things that we once took for granted have become dreams.
Then why do we become easily depressed? It is tiring to be alive just to survive. It is exhausting to live in a reality where a simple life is a luxury. A paid-off home and regular meals are becoming unaffordable.
What’s worse is that our educational system is supposedly meant to equip us to become the workforce this country needs, yet why is it that schools do not teach us about financial literacy, the civil service, or corporate industries? Why do we not know about "salary grades"? Or how to apply? Why do we only discover these things when we finally graduate and try to apply?
I learned that this is actually part of the curriculum—job opportunities for our respective fields. However, it is not taught in the most practical and necessary way that it should be. I conducted an informal survey among college students, and the result was laughable yet expected. A lot of them, if not almost all, do not know how to apply for government positions. They do not know what a salary grade is. They have little to no idea about taxes.
Some could even argue that it is actually better to build networks in college than to aim for Latin honors.
This feeling of desperation to survive that leads to competitiveness, and this feeling of burnout that leads to depression—somehow, they all lead to a certain numbness I call Modern Anesthesia.
Modern Anesthesia is the struggle to find meaning in the midst of exhaustion. It is when we try to romanticize everything just to squeeze out some sweetness from the most basic and trivial things we can afford. It is trying to be grateful for the things we normally took for granted before because of the changed standard of living. It is the acceptance that, no matter what we achieve, there is less value in it than there should be. It is the filtered Instagram story of the only decent meal we had this week. It is the CapCut-edited reel of a day in the life at a job that barely pays our bills, much less our dreams. It is the "no choice" situations we are in. It is the multiple jobs we simultaneously handle just to afford rent. It is the title we worked so hard for, only to fall short of expectations.
I have seen the most decorated students and professionals—PhDs, master’s degree holders, lawyers, and others—with Modern Anesthesia.
It is a difficult battle because, unlike during times of war and siege, when we had a purpose, now we don’t. Before, even our smallest efforts had meaning in battle zones and tent cities. We contributed to something bigger than ourselves. Modern Anesthesia’s biggest challenge is the loss of purpose.
“Why?”
We lost our "why."
In a country led by thieves, why should we work hard for them or for this country? In the corporate world, why should we make the rich richer while the poor get poorer? The system does not work because it is rigged in favor of those who created it.
Tax is a great example. In accounting, if you study taxation, the books will tell you that it is for the operation of the government. Tax is the lifeblood of the government. Therefore, tax does not work for the people who pay it. It works for the government. And what is the government, if not the people seated at its table?
Modern Anesthesia is getting comfortable in the absence of security.
