Churning out leads to burnout

Burnout is described as work-related stress that can negatively affect your mental health in many ways, leaving you not wanting to do work.

I personally have dealt with burnout these past few weeks of the term with break being so close and me just wanting to give up at times. But I have had to push through, even if I’ve had a few mental breakdowns along the way.

If you too are dealing with burnout, here are five tips from a fellow college student who is dealing with it as well.

Time management and organization:

This is personally one of the first steps that I take when dealing with my burnout. As college students, we have busy schedules, rigorous classes, homework, exams and events outside of school.

We are always on the go, which can lead to some stress in our lives, so here is where time management and organization come in. Being able to see the things you have planned out in front of you and not over-planning is a great first step.

This can help because sometimes planning multiple events can affect us and make us feel more stressed, leading to burnout in many ways. So, getting ahead of the problem and getting a planner to deal with these events can be a great first step in avoiding burnout.

Setting goals for yourself:

I feel as if there are times that we set unreachable goals for ourselves, causing us to get stressed when we don’t reach them. But being able to set small goals for your day or week can better help you manage your stress.

Whether it’s making a goal of cleaning your dorm room, studying for an hour, making sure you are getting your homework done or even hanging out with your friends, allowing yourself to have these small goals and reach them can be a great way to go about your stressful days.

Take a break from social media:

Okay, now I know that this one may sound extreme for some people, but taking a break from social media can be a good thing. These platforms can get very toxic at times, with people only allowing pictures from the perfect moments in their lives.

So, sometimes taking a break from seeing all the fake things on social media can better help your mental health. Plus, sometimes it’s nice to stop staring at a phone screen and just go outdoors, even if it’s for five minutes.

Don’t be afraid to get help:

Getting help doesn’t always have to mean seeing a therapist, sometimes it means reaching out to friends and seeing how they are feeling. I know that reaching out to other peers in my classes has helped me because I have realized that I am not alone in my feelings of burnout from certain classes.

You can get help from your friends and family, just talking to them about the things that are bothering you and getting their advice on it. But you can always talk to your professor and communicate with them how your mental health is doing within your classes.

This can allow for your professors to know your situation and hopefully help in any way that they can.

Don’t forget the end goal:

Now, as college students we all have one goal in mind, and that is graduating from college. Sometimes we forget about that during the hectic moments. At times we just need to remind ourselves that no matter how long it takes we will get there to graduation and be able to walk across the stage.

These are just five tips on how to deal with burnout but just know sometimes it takes longer to resolve the feelings of burnout. You can still do these tips and feel burnout still, it just takes time to go through the process.

Just always remember that you aren’t alone in your feelings, someone right next to you in class could be feeling the same way. We just need to remember to treat ourselves with kindness and know we will get through these feelings.