Tired, frustrated, lacking motivation — all signs of burnout. I’m sure many of you know, burnout is so real in college. With non-stop midterms, hectic extracurricular activities, and the responsibility of maintaining a clean living space, you meet the end of your rope at some point. I resonated with these feelings when it came to attending my summer session classes. As a person who is usually eager to start classes, and is willing to put in time and effort to excel on my assignments, I had very little motivation to do the same in my summer classes. I was disinterested in the classes, felt like I was falling behind on assignments, and overall, didn’t care about what the results in my classes would end up being. But somehow, someway, I knew I had to get out of this slump because I had a whole year of classes ahead of me. So, here are some tips to prevent/escape burnout!
1. Self-Care
It is so important for you to carve out time for yourself. This does not mean hanging out with friends, being on campus, or doing household chores. This is a time at home, with no obligations, plans, or work holding you back from truly taking care of yourself. I found myself counting my “me-time” as me doing my laundry or watching TV while I wrote some emails. But that still counts as work! Setting aside time during the week where you can really do whatever you want purely for your own enjoyment and relaxation will allow you to take a step away from the busy life that is reality and give you a second to prioritize yourself amidst the chaos.
2. Reminding Yourself of the “Why”
It’s easy to get short-sighted while you’re overworking yourself. We are faced with tasks like finishing an assignment before the deadline, organizing slides for a club general meeting, and making sure we paid tuition on time. But, often times we don’t remind ourselves why we’re doing the things we do, why we’re working so hard, and making these activities a priority in our lives. For me, it was reminding myself that I want to get into law school and make a difference for those negatively impacted by our criminal justice system. It was telling myself that I crowd my plate with extracurriculars because though they may be time-consuming, I love maintaining these hobbies and want to be able to further explore them as I grow older. What is your “why”?
3. Don’t Take it Too Seriously!
Part of the reason you end up burned out is because you gave too much energy to your activities and drained yourself! Everything you do is important and is a priority to you — that’s why you do them. But, you need to know when to draw the line. You need to adopt a better work-life balance where you aren’t investing your all into one task. By doing so, you’re really just placing yourself at a disadvantage in the future. Put work into what you’re passionate about, but at the same time, do not take it so seriously! You will meet your goals one way or another. You will find a way to succeed because you work hard and are dedicated. You don’t need to put everything you have into something in order to be successful in it. Find a way to take a step back and draw boundaries for yourself; that way you will only spend however much effort is needed to fulfill a responsibility, without overworking yourself to the point of burnout.
These are a few of the several ways you can work towards avoiding or getting out of a burnout. At the end of the day, you know yourself best, so do what works for you! There is no cookie-cutter way to tackle this issue. Look to yourself to know what you need in order to manage your time better, rebuild your motivation, and get out of this rut! You got this!