By Zoe Michelle

Passion or Pressure?

Have you ever sat in a room, which overflows with so much passion that somehow it gives you this irresistible urge to chase your dreams? A room dripping of love, filled with people who have an undeniable drive for what they're doing? A space which feels like this could be the very start of something good?

That is exactly how I would describe AGMs in MSOs. I know, it seems like a bit of a stretch to say sitting in a lecture hall for hours on a plastic scratchy chair, listening to speech after speech is reflective of what I just described. Yet there's some sort of charm about being in a room full of like minded people and listening to the vision candidates want to bring into a mere Malaysian society in the heart of Australia. It’s about recognising the time they spent on their speech, the care they have to notice a problem and come up with a potential solution, or how they want to bring together even more Malaysians, making sure we never feel alone in this uncertain period of our lives. Some ideas are classic, some a little more novel, but nonetheless it's a space where all candidates share the same desire: to give back to this community.

But there’s something I noticed while attending the many AGMs this month, it's that multiple candidates often had experiences in other clubs and societies: a captain of a sports team in high school or the director of a student union. No doubt that experience is good, it shows capabilities while giving experience that they can use to better the club. But it leads me to wonder, is it that giving back to a society is what keeps bringing them back, or has this turned into something which has become a way to prove their worth and success?

Lets not get things wrong, joining Malaysian societies as a committee or executive often stems from having it resonates with us, or it gives us the opportunity to execute our ideas. It's an excellent space to feel supported and be part of a community that creates a sense of belonging (Buckley & Lee, 2018), especially if our support system is back home in Malaysia. Beyond the friendships and connections made, taking up such a responsibility often comes with enhancing time management, problem solving and communication skills (Buckley & Lee, 2018). And after a full term of countless meetings and event planning, we come out of it with experiences we can take into the future, something we can put on our resume and talk about in interviews. Even more so when there has proven to be a correlation with personal development and academic success to those who joined clubs and societies in tertiary level education (Sing et al., 2025). When these experiences get stacked up as a list on our resume, it can be viewed as a type of record of success. Theoretically, joining such roles then seems like a good idea: you are able to bring your ideas into life, gain friendships and support, all while having something that proves your capabilities. Soon, one position leads to another, one step up increases the hunger to go higher and maybe we start feeling like we should be chasing a new role before the term ends. Are we then joining a club because we genuinely want to, or in an attempt to fulfil this satisfaction of achievement which never seems to go away?

Hustle culture is something I think it's agreeable to say we have become very accustomed to. In a recent study on generation z, it found that 62% of respondents felt pressure to perform well, mainly in academic and career. Participants also expressed this pressure of doing-it-all: getting a job, volunteering at clubs and societies, socialising both with family and friends, all while maintaining academic responsibilities (Burgess et al., 2022). This can be seen in many of our peers: perhaps the president of a malaysian club has a part time job while attending all tutorials, and hangs out with their friends on the weekend. Seeing such productivity online or in-person may make us feel like we too need to be just as productive. This is exactly what research has found: the need Gen Z has to show peers their constant state of busyness creates an echo chamber that turns exhaustion into social currency (Barrot et al., 2026). The product from being burnt out creates a form of status or reputation that society seems to value. Worse when this need to do it all may be amplified because it feels like we need to make the most out of this opportunity we have of living abroad.

As someone who has been part of such a position, I'm guilty of feeling such ways too. What used to be a space where I could express creativity and connect with other fellow Malaysians somehow turned into wanting to show that I could do it all. I think a lot of us want to prove we can go for all the never ending meetings, coordinate and plan everything in a timely manner all while maintaining grades and a social life. In an environment which rewards achievements, somehow being burnt out and miserable while drowning in the never ending workload seems better than doing nothing. So the vicious never-ending cycle or being burnt out but still planning our next accomplishment or leadership position continues.

This is not to say that all positions in clubs and societies are about proving our worth- I genuinely do believe we all started because we wanted to bring something to the society. I've met some of my closest friends in these environments and have managed to turn the ideas I had on paper into a reality. But perhaps somewhere between agm and the term, we may have forgotten why we went up in front of the lecture hall and tried to convince strangers to vote for you. Perhaps we let this culture of toxic productivity dim the spark that ultimately drives us.

Maybe not everything needs to be evidence that you're productive, whether as club executive or in university. Maybe simply doing what we love is enough. So to the newly elected committee of the various MSos that just happened, remember why you wrote your speech and went up to the podium. While it can be hard not to succumb to the pressure of needing to do it all, doing something with genuine love and passion will always result in a better outcome than doing it for the sake of completing a task. And to those who aren’t in such a position, maybe go to an event, and thank the committee members for organising it. Sometimes an act of kindness can be the spark that reignites the fire of passion that society always tries to dim.

References

Barrot, R. B., Dionisio-Sese, M., & Gomez, A. M. (2026). A sociological analysis of hustle culture among generation Z in the philippine gig economy. International Journal of Humanities, Management and Social Science (IJ-HuMaSS), 9(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.36079/lamintang.ij-humass-0901.965

Buckley, P., & Lee, P. (2021). The impact of extra-curricular activity on the student experience. Active Learning in Higher Education, 22(1), 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787418808988

Burgess, A., Yeomans, H., & Fenton, L. (2022). ‘More options…less time’ in the ‘hustle culture’ of ‘generation sensible’: Individualization and drinking decline among twenty‐first century young adults. The British Journal of Sociology, 73(4), 903–918. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12964

Sinha, D., Kujur S.J, R., Gupta, S., & Raj, S. (2025). How club, Society and NGO serve as catalyst for academic and personal development. International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 7(5), Article 56074. https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i05.56074

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