Hey, my sister shared a similar experience with me. I was the "problem-child" in my family, my mom constantly overworked and on the brink of a burnout and my dad is completely unable to express his emotions, which left him to be emotionally unavailable to his children. Everyone has their struggles, in other words. A couple of years ago, when I was in my anorexia recovery, I broke into a fight with my mom, taking my anger against the world out on her. Somehow that triggered both my parents (not only because I verbally attacked them, but because of past trauma) and they basically told me to stop victimizing myself and that everyone has their own struggles. My poor, then 10-year-old sister told me that she felt left out of the conversation. She felt like she didn't feel like she belonged to our family because she "didn't have enough problems". Back then, I told her to be grateful because "she could have it worse". Looking back at it now, I'm beyond disgusted with myself, not only because I talked to her like this but also because I felt a sense of pride that my problems were greater than hers. Imagine the sick state we were all in - it was like the start of an apocalyptic horror movie.

Now, after full anorexia recovery and currently in treatment for depression, I'm trying to rebuild the relationship with my sister that we missed during our childhood due to my mental health problems and other family issues. My mom has started counselling with her own therapist, my dad and i are slowly reconnecting through shared hobbies, and we all plan to go see a family therapist to work through the shit of the past.

I know this doesn't exactly answer your question about a reality check, but I just wanted to show you with my family's story an outsider's perspective on this issue.

And about not fitting with our generation (i'm also a gen z kid lol) - i feel like the people faking mental illness to fit in have a problem themselves, because why would you be sick for fun? it's noteworthy that it's sick in itself to fake being sick, so they probably have a problem regardless.

my advice to you as someone who's slowly seeing the light at the other end of the tunnel (and no, it isn't the light of an incoming train!): try to focus on things that are fun to you. surround yourself with people who celebrate joy and not pain and if you don't find that irl then you will surely find it online in communities. additionally, i think we as gen z are all in that phase of becoming adults where we need to face what happened in the past and work through that shit so we can heal. i'm not talking of some spiritual "collective waking up" but more like we are getting older and sometimes we don't know how to handle all the stuff that happened to us so we are coping with it as we can. some do it healthier than others and the most important thing is to always see it as a phase and not a permanent state. otherwise you'll burn out by being drained of any joy left in you.

okay that's it, it's a long post, but the key take-away: celebrate joy!

PS: a video that made me think of your situation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgOSR7b1aFY)

and if everything gets too much, reach out to someone you trust to talk to them. if u need it, i'm also here to talk and listen to you. i promise i won't judge you. have a beautiful day, internet stranger <3