Millie Bobby Brown, star of the Netflix show Stranger Things, chose to slow down her hectic schedule recently, skipping an appearance at Collective Con in Florida due to exhaustion, as this BuzzFeed article reports.
In an Instagram video posted on Saturday, the ultra-talented 13-year-old tells her fans why she had to cancel (something she has “never, never done,” she says, and never plans to do again). She earnestly explains “I think I’ve just worked too hard and I have to rest as I’ve had a really long shoot and I’m still filming Stranger Things.”
It’s admirable that someone so young understands the connection between overwork and well-being and listens to what her body and mind need to avoid burnout. And while Millie deserves all the praise in the world for her maturity and self-awareness, the larger problem is that someone so young has reached the point of exhaustion in the first place.
We’re all for working hard to achieve success, but when a 13-year-old is advocating (and apologizing) for needing time off, we have a problem. It’s time we all acknowledge the detrimental effects overwork has on our collective and individual health. Perhaps Millie’s eloquence can encourage people to take work exhaustion, and the need to disconnect, seriously — after all, stranger things have happened.
Read more about Millie’s statement and her fans’ reaction here.
Originally published at medium.com