We’re at a weird point in the semester. Midterms are over, but finals still feel kind of far away, so we just feel tired. For me, I feel like I’ve been putting in so much work for so long, and it doesn’t even really feel like there’s an end in sight. When I start to feel this way, I try to look back on all of the hard work I’ve put into things this semester and all of the things I’ve accomplished. I know a lot of times we don’t like giving ourselves credit, but we all go to an academically challenging school. And we’re doing the damn thing! Even just for that, you should be incredibly proud of yourself.
For me, the first type of burnout I usually experience—and, unfortunately, probably the most detrimental—is burnout to follow through with all of my self-care habits. This usually begins with deciding to push off cooking for a day and ordering takeout. Then pushing it off for another day. Then running out of groceries, so instead of going to buy more, just ordering takeout. Not only am I failing to feed my body mainly healthy food, but I’m also starting to burn a hole in my wallet. Taking a look at my bank/credit card statement is usually a wake-up call for me that I need to get back into cooking for myself instead of opting for takeout out of convenience.
It’s at this point in the semester when I also start to experience some social burnout as well. I’m surrounded by so many super awesome people, that I am failing to continue to reach out and get to know more people and put myself out there. It seems like such a daunting task to put so much energy into getting to know new people or even strengthening connections with those you know, but once you make an effort to go out and do it, it will quickly pay off. As contradictory as it sounds, a lot of times the way for me to get myself out of a cycle of burnout is to overschedule myself to make sure that I am hanging out with people and doing things I enjoy in order to get out of the burnout funk.
While most of the former is a result of trying to prioritize academics and always putting classes and work first, academic burnout is just as, if not even more, likely to happen. For me, if I fall behind on one homework assignment, that’s it: I’m behind for the whole week. Then I try to pick up slack over the weekend but just end up feeling unmotivated and then the week starts over again where I am again struggling to finish all of my assignments on time. I’ve found that the best way to combat this is to set a day where I am stopping work at 10 p.m. and going to bed. That way, I can get up earlier that morning and start working right away. By doing this, I have the option to start my day and week off by being productive and will be more likely to maintain good time management skills for the rest of the week.
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