For many of us, seasonal burnout feels almost inevitable. It creeps in at the end of a long academic term. After weeks of deadlines, early mornings, late nights, and the quiet pressure to keep up. We tell ourselves it’s normal — and often, it is. When we overwork, when life speeds up, when we stretch ourselves too thin, exhaustion is bound to follow.
Usually, the solution seems simple: rest. Take a break. Sleep in. Reorganise. Buy the new planner. Reset the routine. Promise that this time, things will be different.
But what happens when rest doesn’t feel like rest?
What happens when you’ve slept, you’ve paused, you’ve tried to ‘get your life together’ and yet you still wake up tired? When the body is heavy, the mind foggy, and the smallest task feels disproportionate to your energy? For some, burnout isn’t just the temporary consequence of a busy season. It lingers. It follows you into the break. It sits beside you while you’re supposedly ‘recharging.’
That’s because burnout isn’t just physical. it’s a buildup of stress and mental fatigue. When you’ve been constantly working, on the go, or thinking about the next task, your nervous system adapts to that pace. It becomes used to operating in a low-level fight-or-flight mode, always anticipating something. So even when you lie down, your mind keeps going. Replaying conversations. Planning essays. Fast-forwarding into worst-case scenarios. Quietly criticising you for resting instead of getting ahead.
Truly resting is a skill that is hard for many people, but here are some practical steps to help you relax, both physically and mentally. First, it’s important to understand that rest is not a reward for finishing everything. It necessary to get things done (and actually function….). If you only allow yourself to rest once every task is complete, you will never rest. There will always be another deadline, another email, another thing you could optimise or improve. Productivity is endless. Your capacity, however, is not.
Another uncomfortable truth: scrolling is not rest. It can feel like a break because you’re not actively producing anything, but your brain is still highly stimulated, switching rapidly from one app to another, absorbing constant input. If you want to relax in a way that actually restores you, you have to minimise stimulus.
You can also support that shift through simple grounding practices that regulate the body directly. Box breathing. A slow, intentional shower. Naming five physical sensations around you. Going for a quiet walk. Curling up under a weighted blanket. Whatever is may be, they all serve the same purpose: reducing alertness and calming the nervous system.
Rest is also relational. Surrounding yourself with people and things that regulate you makes a difference. A friend who makes you laugh. Someone you don’t feel the need to impress. An environment where you’re not performing or competing. The right company can quiet your mind more effectively than isolation ever could.
And finally, real recovery requires boundaries. Clear lines between work and rest. Not answering emails at midnight. Not studying in bed. Allowing an evening without ‘catching up on work.’ When work seeps into every space, your brain never fully powers down. Boundaries teach your body when it is allowed to switch off.
While burnout may feel inevitable at certain points in the year, staying stuck in it isn’t. Learning how to rest and set healthy boundaries is how you keep going without burning out again. And sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is nothing.