At this point in my life, I know the feeling when I’m approaching burn out; that feeling you get when you open your Google Calendar and only see a sea of colors with no free time for the next three weeks; or when a friend asks to go see a movie with you and you agree until you look at the long to do list sitting in your planner; or when you realize you haven’t talked to your parents in two weeks because life has been so hectic; or when you juggle writing an article, doing internship tasks, emailing your friend who is in a study abroad, and studying for a midterm all at once (but maybe that’s just me). But the moment that it really hit me that I may have too much on my plate and it was becoming an actual issue was when I was on the phone with my friend Sam and she explained, “Macey, you can’t be an energizer bunny all the time.”
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While no one likes burning out, it’s college culture to overwhelm yourself with an unimaginable amount of extracurriculars, school, and work just to become burnt out after a few weeks. I know that I’m guilty of telling everyone I’m “extremely busy” and then adding four more things to my week just to have them look at me in disappointment.
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However after having a solid four breakdowns in one week and thoughtful words from Sam, I’ve realized that I’m no longer okay with being burnt out. To the busy-body college student I am, being burnt out always seemed an inevitable wall that I would hit after a couple weeks of the quarter. I’m taking this quarter as a learning moment that I should have had a couple months (or years) ago to learn how to incorporate real self-care into my daily life. Whether it be meeting up with a friend (like in Michelle’s article), scheduling actual “nothing” time into my Google Calendar (yes it works), or setting an alarm to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, I am taking the time to learn how to take care of myself this quarter, and you should be too.
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Whether you’re reading this article as a way to procrastinate from the million things you have to do (no judgment) or as a way to relate to someone experiencing burnout, take a moment to reflect on the self-care you experience.