Whether if it’s in school or the workplace, burnout has become incredibly prevalent under the competitive, cutthroat culture most people are accustomed to. According to the internet, symptoms of “Burnout syndrome” include exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of efficacy. In general terms, to be burnt out is to feel constantly depleted and unable to recharge.
In Part 2 of Volume 15, The Soapbox invited Community Center Shanghai (CCS) counselor Bella Wu to discuss submissions and provide professional advice to symptoms of burnout.
Further check out Lifeline Shanghai for immediate mental health support:
Phone: 400 821 1215
Website: https://www.lifeline-shanghai.com/
Hello! Welcome to the Bubbles Senior Advice, where we’ll be doing deep dives into college life with various undergrads located around the world. As graduating high school seniors, we hope that these episodes can provide important advice for studying, working, socializing, and other aspects of adult life that we have yet to experience. We wish you, as the rejection letters say, “good luck in your future endeavors!”
In the third and last episode of our Senior Advice mini-series, we interview Nancy Wu, a rising senior in Yale University. In this episode, we discuss stigmatized but must be talked about topics such as alcohol, sex, and drugs and ways to experience them safely in university. Hopefully this episode may serve as a guide for us in an unfamiliar environment with much more pleasures to explore!
Whether if it’s in school or the workplace, burnout has become incredibly prevalent under the competitive, cutthroat culture most people are accustomed to. According to the internet, symptoms of “Burnout syndrome” include exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of efficacy. In general terms, to be burnt out is to feel constantly depleted and unable to recharge.
In Part 1 of Volume 15, The Soapbox members hold a roundtable discussion on the causes of burnout, their personal experiences, as well as possible ways to deal with burnout.
How do we persist when life seems to be an endless cycle of stress and disappointment? All of us have different strategies of dealing with burnout. We try to spend our time with loved ones, further our hobbies, and seek new experiences. However, when all those methods come to no avail, some of us find escape in retail therapy—shopping in order to make ourselves happier. In this Bubbles episode, Erika Liao and Stephanie Koh discuss retail therapy in detail, including its causes, signs, and possible solutions.
Persisting despite working against overwhelming odds is at the core of activism. Sometimes, however, obstacles to progress seem unyielding regardless of any efforts and can lead to something called activism burnout, where, no matter what you do to overcome something, it feels impossible to do. As such, this Bubbles episode will break ground in our theme this month of burnout by tackling this specific type of burnout, exploring activists’ stories and how they respond to the feelings of hopelessness that come with advocating for what you believe in.
Hello! Welcome to the Bubbles Senior Advice, where we’ll be doing deep dives into college life with various undergrads located around the world. As graduating high school seniors, we hope that these episodes can provide important advice for studying, working, socializing, and other aspects of adult life that we have yet to experience. We wish you, as the rejection letters say, “good luck in your future endeavors!”
In the second episode of our Senior Advice mini-series, we interview Tony Guan and Miya Shtereva of Tsinghua University. In this episode, we discuss handling social anxiety, dealing with insecurities, how to approach socializing, coping with university stress, and accommodating unsupportive parents. As we enter into a new and unfamiliar environment, preserving our mental health and establishing a concrete support system of friends will be crucial in navigating our way through the twists and turns, so hopefully this episode may serve as a foundation for our journeys into university.
With the coming of a second lockdown season in Shanghai, students are facing a new round of mental crisis. For this episode, we will be going over submissions from students sharing their experience with lockdown. Together, we discuss how to deal with loneliness, family troubles, drifting friendships, and many more issues we are facing at this moment.
The second wave of lockdown in Shanghai is bringing unexpected turbulence to our mental health as we cope with changes in lifestyle, estranged connections, and even relationships with ourselves and our bodies. In this episode, we invited Miranda from SHSID class 10(3) to share her experience with an eating disorder and recovery. We will be discussing the effects of lockdown on mental health and advice for people struggling with eating disorders as well as ways in which their families and friends can offer help.
Hello! Welcome to the Bubbles Senior Advice, where we’ll be doing deep dives into college life with various undergrads located around the world. As graduating high school seniors, we hope that these episodes can provide important advice for studying, working, socializing, and other aspects of adult life that we have yet to experience. We wish you, as the rejection letters say, “good luck in your future endeavors!”
Kicking off the first of multiple episodes in this mini-series, we have SHSID alumnus and current Yale undergrad Lelan Hu. In this episode, we explore how college life has changed under the pandemic, how to make friends, and the differences between high school and college. This will hopefully be a broad overview on study goals, social life, and planning that can help in the initial stages of any college student’s career.
With the coming of a second lockdown season in Shanghai, students are facing a new round of mental crisis. For this episode, we have collaborated with Anna Tian from Community Center Shanghai (CCS) to gain some professional insights on this shared concern. Together, we discuss how to deal with loneliness, family troubles, drifting friendships, and many more issues we are facing at this moment
Whether in work, school or social settings in general, we find ourselves caught up in a brutal culture of involution (“内卷”)—a vicious cycle of competition and “racing to the bottom”. In a fast-paced, cutthroat environment, we’re made to believe participating in this culture is the best way to prove our worth. For a good grade or college result, we increase the work we do, the extracurriculars we take on, the level of courses we attend to an unreasonably high amount.
The anxiety of being less s than others forces us to accept these increasingly extreme standards as the norm. As a result, we lose ourselves in the nerve-wracking frenzy of meaningless competition, beating ourselves for not being “good enough”.
This month, in Involution: Anxiety Of Our Time, we will discuss the world of involution, how it causes unhealthy relationships, coping mechanisms, and more.
Whether in work, school, or social settings in general, we find ourselves caught up in a brutal culture of involution (“内卷”) — a vicious cycle of competition and “racing to the bottom”. In this episode, we invited Cecilia Ding, a counselor from CCS (Community Center Shanghai), who will be sharing us her expert knowledge on involution, or 内卷. Discussing the psychological and sociocultural factors behind this issue, we will be shedding light upon the causes of involution and ways to cope with it on a personal level.
How do you think you look? The answer to this question often shapes our perception of “self”, and obsessing over it constrains our ability to see ourselves beyond mere reflections. In the final episode of "Beyond My Reflection", our hosts will be discussing the submissions we have received surrounding body image issues. From being insecure about our height to feeling guilty after each meal, we constantly suffer from outside expectations and toxic beauty standards. Whereas our anxiety towards imperfections is almost impossible to avoid in our teenage years, it is something that can be gradually overcome with self acceptance.
How do you think you look? The answer to this question often shapes our perception of “self”, and obsessing over it constrains our ability to see ourselves beyond mere reflections. In this episode, we have invited Bella Wu, a counselor from CCS (Community Center Shanghai), onto our show, who will be sharing her expert knowledge on body image issues and eating disorders. Discussing the biological, psychological and sociocultural factors behind unhealthy eating habits, we will be unraveling the causes behind perfectionism as well as our desire to use food as a means of control.
How do you think you look? The answer to this question often shapes our perception of “self”, and obsessing over it constrains our ability to see ourselves beyond mere reflections. In this episode, we have invited Claire onto our show, who will be sharing her journey of accepting her body. None of us are perfect. And when we are fixated on one tiny aspect of ourselves, we become trapped by our imperfections. As a result, no matter how skinny we are, how muscular, how acne-free, there's always something that needs to be fixed. Body image issues aren't just limited to women, either. Men are constantly faced the pressure of being a certain height, having a six-pack, and owning a muscular body. No matter what gender we identify as, how pretty we're born, the issue of self-perception is universal, and we need to realize that we are all beautiful.
Suicide remains the second leading cause of death among youths today. In China, along with many other parts of the world where mental illness is highly stigmatized, it is a largely invisible yet widespread issue. On September 10th, suicide prevention day, we invited Dr. Rona Hu onto our show. Dr.Hu is a Medical Director of the Acute psychiatric Inpatient Unit at Stanford Hospital, specializing in mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar, and depression. In this episode, she will be sharing some advice on how to deal with adverse thoughts and establish healthy friends and family relationships.
Episode 2 of “Rumor Has It” is here! This time, we’ve partnered with CCS Counseling to bring a professional perspective on the topic of gossip and tea culture. We have on their Counseling Director, Carrie Jones, to answer various questions regarding the potential impacts of negative or defamatory gossip, while also discussing various ways to handle being the subject of hurtful rumors. We face social situations where gossip serves as an essential tool and ticket into the most basic of conversations, while also capable of being manipulated into a weapon against others. This episode will provide the opportunity to reflect on the dangers of gossip, while also touching on how we might face it with positivity and create a better social environment.
The icebreaker, the conversation-carrier, or the tool of manipulation. Whatever the case, gossip and ‘tea culture’ is an integral part of social relationships, quickly disseminating information across groups of people by word of mouth and, unsurprisingly, ending up different every time it changes hands. With the internet pervading through school culture, students are the most prone to engaging in gossip of any group, proving to be an easy source of entertainment as well as a toxic space that can damage reputations unjustly, causing undue stress and anxiety. Most recently, programs on platforms like WeChat (Tape, etc.) have further allowed the proliferation of this kind of behavior as anonymity even between friends has enabled direct questions to be asked about private topics. This month, the SoapBox tackles the world of whispers that hides in plain sight in Rumor Has It.
Living in a world where we are constantly being valued and ranked based on academic performance, appearance, work ethics, popularity, etc., it is easy for us to fall into rabbit holes of insecurity and self-hatred. Whether if it’s the underestimation of one’s own value or the constant assumption that others should be prioritized above one self, a lack of love for ourselves propels countless individuals into cycles of serious mental health issues that afflict them without end. This month, The SoapBox will zoom in on struggles surrounding self love and celebrating the stories of those that have triumphed over these troubles and truly embraced themselves, their situations, and their identities.
Living a busy lifestyle where we’re constantly under mental and physical stress, it can be hard for us to spend time with ourselves—or simply learn to love who we are. In this episode, we invited Cher Yan onto our show, a high school student who lives her life to the fullest every day, goes back home, and sleeps at nine every night. Join us on a journey where Cher shares her personal experiences with setting priorities, feeling confident, and learning how to spend time with herself.
Lots of love,
The Soapbox