Update on my Burnout

If you read my past article, “Burnout From a Former 4.0 Student in High School,” you have seen the mindset and the immense lack of motivation I have been feeling recently. Everything feels like a chore that I don’t want to do. I get things done because I must, and then I go back to that feeling of numbness. 

Well, I felt like giving an update, as someone who once prided their self worth on grades and academic achievements who has become someone who just gets the work done without a second thought, without the yearning to learn.

So far, I’d like to note that everyone’s burnout is drastically different and will affect you differently. We do not all experience the same burn out. While my burnout felt immense to me, some may question how I was able to still get work done when so many other burnout students can’t turn a single assignment in, and this is simply because we are different people. Their burnout affected them differently from how mine affected me. While I was still able to finish my work, everything seemed to blend in together and I felt numb to everything around me. I was able to get work done, but in reality, I really don’t remember even doing the assignments, it feels like a fever dream when I turn in my assignments. I am thankful that despite my heavy burn out that I was still able to do this because the missing assignments and the anxiety that comes with that definitely wouldn’t have helped me during the peak of burn out. 

But here is my update: I definitely feel much better than I had when I wrote my article. When I wrote that article, I was at the peak point of burn out, where some days I could barely get out of my bed but still would only sleep around 4-5 hours every night. Recently, I’ve established a decent sleep schedule where I get at least 6-8 hours of sleep, and I’ve had a consistent time of waking up, at 8am. Establishing this schedule has helped me bounce back and has helped me feel more motivated to get things done. Something I also added was working out at least two days out of the week, even if it’s just a short walk to a full on workout session, this has helped me feel much more energized and healthy. 

Another major thing that has been helping me combat my burnout is the weather and season change. Having seasonal depression has really fueled my burnout and the lack of motivation in me. The highs and lows that come with seasonal depression seemed to align with my burnout and only made it that much harder for me, but due to it almost being spring and me constantly going out to get fresh air and Vitamin D, my overall mood and wellbeing feels much more improved. 

My overall update on my burnout is that I am slowly finding my way back to being productive and wanting to learn. It took almost a whole quarter for me to feel differently, and I’d like to reiterate that everyone’s burnout is different, the symptoms and time span alike. My one piece of advice for people dealing with burnout is to not force yourself into doing things that will continue to sap your energy, if you need to have a break, take your break. If you’re not feeling so good, it is okay to break and give yourself the time you need to feel better. And while I’m not completely out of the clear for my burnout, I can already feel myself being much more motivated and excited for spring quarter, something I haven’t felt for the entirety of winter quarter.

• burnout
• college
• mental health
• mindset
• student
• work