I have spent four semesters at NYU Abu Dhabi, and each of them has been significantly different. But, every semester I reach a stage where I question my abilities, and then push myself to work even harder until I eventually crash. Students from NYUAD are a diverse group of individuals who come from different backgrounds, but there is a thread that ties us together — our desire to reach the pinnacle of success. We immerse ourselves in academics and numerous activities outside the classroom, often losing track of time and our sense of self. A cycle of toxic workaholism emerges, and campus culture at NYUAD, in fact, promotes this.

Workaholism becomes toxic when one works so hard that their physical and mental health, social relationships and personal happiness become secondary to the work at hand. Hustle-culture” is so common that it has become normalized, as students complete projects and tasks back to back with barely any breaks, becoming part of the very system that produces workaholics. Midterm season and finals week leave us feeling burnt-out and overwhelmed, precisely because of the magnitude of work we take on. Not every college student is a toxic workaholic, but we have all experienced feelings of stress and pressure at some point in every semester, and our workload is usually the culprit. The Bergen Work Addiction Scale provides a good sense of how much of a workaholic we may be. Although this scale is not a foolproof determinant, it is a fairly accurate indicator of one’s workaholic tendencies. Work at NYUAD can never be avoided. From incredibly time-consuming computer science projects to FoS labs to courses with hundreds of pages of reading per week, assignments pile up by the day. This is further exacerbated by Student Interest Group meetings, student assistantships or internship commitments. When does it all get toxic, and how does campus culture promote this?

The campus environment at NYUAD is competitive, with common questions of “Did you do the response paper for tomorrow?” or “How do you feel about your grade for the first assignment?” in the air. We look at other people and see only their accomplishments and not failures, which promotes us to compare and use it as a motivating factor. While this could be a positive reinforcement strategy, it often does become destructive. The questions we must all ask ourselves are if we impose these expectations upon ourselves, or if it is what is expected of us and we are only trying to meet those expectations. The latter is problematic because we are then working to achieve the conventional idea of success by sacrificing our personal goals.

Weekends are spent completing the upcoming week’s projects unless we actively procrastinate them. Thus, we incessantly worry over the work we have to do, with looming guilt and apprehension as Sundays come around. Based on conversations I have had with friends, professors often impose deadlines at the beginning of the week which means that we have to work throughout the weekend. Most take-home midterms are also due after spring or fall break, which forces us to work on them over the break, thereby offsetting the rationale behind a break. Furthermore, some classes have meetings, excursions and events beyond class timings every week, which not only increases the workload but also compromises other commitments students may have, academic or otherwise.

In terms of campus culture, NYUAD students are constantly made aware of their potential to become global leaders (albeit ironically), which also contributes to the expectations that are unintentionally imposed upon us. This applies to workaholism as we strive to constantly do better and be better, which is ideal until it goes overboard. Naturally, NYUAD also fosters meaningful relationships, connections and memories with our peers, but the workaholism it promotes negatively impacts these relationships, students’ mental health and general campus culture, as we succumb to the workload and ignore cultivating healthy relationships.

There are resources available to undergraduate students which provide support for mental health, such as the Health and Wellness Center and the peer support group REACH. While I believe these resources are helpful with coping, they do not end the problem because until one decides to manage the workload in a healthier manner themselves, no one else can control their actions and associated repercussions.

The only way toxic workaholism can be eradicated is by understanding that the way we operate can sometimes be unhealthy, and understanding when to set boundaries and take breaks. This is easier said than done. Being a part of a high-achieving academic community, we are put in situations where we have no choice but to work. In such a culture, even a shared understanding among our friend groups and class groups can help when it comes to dealing with huge workloads. Ideally however, confronting the problem has to begin at an individual level.

Ultimately, college will involve hard work. There will be never-ending assignments and perpetual coffee runs, but this is a phenomenon that is too normalized. When we look back at our time in NYUAD, would we want to remember the long nights spent frantically typing out papers in the Marketplace, the group projects that severed bonds and not strengthened them, or the conversations that made us roll over with laughter? What do we really get out of all the sleepless nights? A taste of the “real world” or stress, anxiety and alienation? To me it is more of the latter, and this is something that requires change.