Picture this: your school is finishing their regular season and have just been admitted to the playoffs, or a bowl game. You went to most of their games and even traveled to an away game to support the team. Even though you love your school, you begin to feel burnt out with the season-long dedication, and you begin to question if it’s really worth sacrificing your personal time to attend the playoffs.
If you’re like me and attend a highly spirited school, you likely can relate. School and gameday pride is the heart to many campuses, but can drag without a healthy balance.
Regardless, if you are beginning to feel a spirit burnout because of the end of the semester approaching, gameday exhaustion, or other reasons, you can use these tips to refuel your spirit burnout and regain motivation for representing your school.
Tip #1: Don’t overcommit yourself
As simple and as obvious as this sounds, overcommitting can be hard to escape. It originally appears avoidable, but peer pressure can easily change what prior plans you made beforehand.
If you are scared of letting others down, you might often find yourself at this step. It’s difficult to retract commitment, but it not impossible. It’s okay to have sudden changes of plans because nobody knows your limits except yourself. It is okay to slowly pace yourself with baby steps rather than scheduling too much responsibility and stress. Compromise on the limits that don’t exceed your comfort and do what feels most natural.
Tip #2: Find your niche
Not all ways of displaying spirit are “one size fits all”. Many times, burnout can easily result from doing too much in one particular area of discomfort or uncertainty, or maybe you just simply want to change things up.
Here is a personal example: I despise student sections. Although being with college peers is a unique experience, I do not get satisfaction from the rowdiness and the crowdedness. If I didn’t explore a different way to show gameday spirit apart from the student section, I likely would not attend a single game, regardless of how much I love my school.
You might be wondering “what did you do instead”? As a lover of service, I found my place through serving at games and on campus. I found throwing shirts to students and interacting as a representative student for families was my perfect fit.
There are many other behind the scenes positions at game days if you don’t enjoy much in person communication. Maybe you want to work the games by serving food, or maybe you would rather assist campus media like the campus radio or the creative media team in covering the game.
Tip #3: Keep spirited friends
Similar to finding your niche, finding new friends or a spirit organization that prioritizes game day experience can help encourage and inspire different ways of showcasing spirit. These groups can make it less stressful to attend a game and help make every game feel different than the last.
This can open new opportunities of gaining travel buddies or friends to understand your personal goals and help you achieve them. Even if these friends have separate niches of celebrating gameday or do not sit together, having these groups will allow you to find a common ground with other people on campus who may experience similar game day burnout.
Tip #4: Wardrobe changes
Sometimes something as simple as thinking of creative ways and themes to showcase your school colors can help representation. Regardless if your school has gameday themes or not, don’t be afraid to get creative.
I feel as though creating and investing time into a personal project will boost my confidence, so what better way to do that than through your outfit?! Don’t be afraid to show your gameday spirit and fit through your socials and promote your team. This step is as easy as it sounds, and lets the team know you are there supporting them.
Now that you have these tips, show your school pride in a way that most resembles you. Do not be afraid to express yourself in a creative and unique way without overcommitting. At the end of the day, it’s all about enjoyment and entertainment!