Stress over an exam or important assignment is normal, but what happens when it gets to be too much? Or the stress you’re facing is constant and overwhelming? Prolonged and excessive feelings of stress, anxiety and exhaustion can often lead to burnout if not managed properly. Burnout is defined as a state of being physically, mentally, and emotionally drained and symptoms can range from mild to severe. There are three main symptoms associated with burnout which include : ● Energy depletion or exhaustion (mentally, emotionally and physically) ● Increased mental distance, negative thoughts or cynicism related towards your job or school ● Lack of motivation and reduced efficacy when completing tasks Pushing yourself too hard, not making time for self care, and not managing stress levels can all contribute and push you towards burnout. However there are many warning signs before you completely burn out, they signal that you need to slow down and take some time for yourself. Some examples of warning signs include : ● Fatigue, low energy ● Insomnia ● Trouble concentrating ● Higher levels of irritability and frustration ● Little to no motivation, even if you are behind on deadlines ● Negative thoughts or mindset If you are experiencing any of these, that means it's time to take a much needed break to prevent them from worsening. It is important to remember that school / work are not everything, and you should not have to sacrifice your mental well being or health for school. You may feel guilty or increasingly stressed about taking time off but once you are headed for burnout there is not much you can do besides reorganize and rest. For me it was hard to take a break and I was constantly thinking about falling farther behind on assignments. Once I realized that I would rather hand in work that was overdue but well done, rather than rushed, incomplete work on time, I decided to take a break and come back in a better head space. Especially for grade 11 and 12’s this year, there is an overwhelming amount of pressure to get good grades and put school first. You may be compelled to keep pushing yourself and think that you’ll feel better once you get this done, but this mindset can be detrimental to your mental health. If you are feeling burnt out you are not alone, and there are many things that you can do to alleviate your symptoms and get back to normal. Recovering from burnout will not happen in a day, you have to be patient with yourself; self care looks different for everyone but doing things that you enjoy doing can really help you get back to normal. Here’s what I did : :
1. Rest and Relaxation In order to start feeling better it is time to take a break and enjoy some self care. There are many ways to relax such as listening to music, reading a book, or watching your favourite movie. These are all excellent ways to relax and take your mind off of stressors. 2. Reorganize and Prioritize After rest it is important to start organizing your schedule in a way that will allow you to get work done without heading for another burnout. To catch up on missed work, you can write out a list of assignments with due dates to figure out what needs to be done first. Making a to-do list helps me remember what needs to be done and can help me stay on track, especially if you have the tendency to procrastinate like I do. 3. Time Management Time management skills are crucial to avoid overworking yourself and to ensure you are getting things done, while still enjoying free time. If you are a big procrastinator like I am, this will only hurt your chances of being productive during the day while still getting enough sleep at night. Keeping a planner or to-do list can help organize your day so you aren’t constantly stressing about what needs to be done. 4. New Habits To avoid another burnout you may have to change some of your day to day habits and focus on incorporating healthy new ones. For example if you are consistently going to bed late and drinking too much caffeine, it may be time to start regulating your schedule by going to bed at a certain time every night and only drinking coffee in the mornings. Not only can new habits prevent burn out, but they can also re-energize your life and help set you up for success. Abbey S.
10 Comments
Nyah Gentry
5/13/2021 02:24:36 pm
This blog unfortunately hit too close to home. I have been told by people In positions of authority as high as the principal what I need to relax and stop overworking myself. Although it can be detrimental to my temporary wellbeing, when I set my mind to something I will accomplish it and I will do my best. I cannot name a time when I have not tried my best, with that being said, I need to learn to relax a bit and learn how to take a break when needed.
Reply
Riley Matthews
5/13/2021 07:09:40 pm
Abby this was a great blog! You gave really good examples on how to recover from a burnout. This has 100% happened to me and I can feel so drained. One really good tip you made is to make a time management chart of some sort. What I do is plan out how each week is going to go to reduce my stress for when those days come and to carve out time to take a break and relax, especially on the weekends. I feel like many highschool students work really hard at school work all week and then either go to a job on the weekends creating more stress and worry on assignments for school. Making sure you have at least one day to kick back is veryyyyyy beneficial. Thank you for sharing!
Reply
kaya
5/14/2021 10:57:42 am
This is such an important topic that I relate to quite a bit. I never really had a full burnout but I have come close a time or two. Being very dedicated to school and sports sometimes made me feel the anxiety of deadlines coming up, with tests and even with handing in things in late a lot more than I should've been feeling. Over time I learned that I need to take care of my well being or I would have a full burnout. I feel that your blog has helped me fully understand the meaning of a burnout and even gave me a few suggestions on how to help me recover from one. I found that your blog was very informative and very well written. I feel that I have learned a lot from it.
Reply
Jenna
5/14/2021 12:15:07 pm
This blog is so important with all the pressure of schooling recently and classes at supersede with hours of homework, e often forget how important it is to take a break for our own well being sometimes. I always feel better after taking a dance party break after doing some homework and forgetting about it for a bit, over stressing won't help your learning and overworking yourself just erases your motivation so taking care of yourself is the way to be the best version of yourself in every aspect.
Reply
avery
5/14/2021 01:46:10 pm
Abbey, i really liked reading bout this blog. I wasn't really aware about it or the symptoms so it was a little shocking to read. I think it's super important for health and i love how you listed out things to help. I will try them out. Thanks!
Reply
kaysey
5/14/2021 01:48:00 pm
yesyesyes. Thank you for all the tips, i definitely experience burnout at least once a month. As someone who enjoys being busy, I can get too caught up with life and forget to take care of myself and needs. I think it takes a lot of time management and organization to not overwhelm myself which is a skill i am working on
Reply
Tyler Lenton
5/17/2021 03:40:42 pm
Thank you for sharing this blog, I really like it because I went through an experience like that. In grade 8 I had to do the concour along with everyone else in french immerssion and it stressed me out through the roof. It really go t to me and I kept putting the work back because I was so scared to present and talk in front of the class. I ended up starting to miss days of school because I was getting headaches from this and in total I think I missed 3 months of school throughout the whole year due to the same pattern of me not taking time off until my body physically forced me too because I got really sick. I feel like with the examples and lists of things you provided I would've been able to solve this problem much faster than I did and really Thank you for this because this is a very helpful thing to have.
Reply
Kiana Birk
5/22/2021 01:17:36 pm
Reply
olivia h
9/28/2023 02:13:50 pm
This is very well written, i love how you listed out symptoms and ways to help. As someone who felt very burnt out since gr.11 and not knowing what it was this blog would have definitly really helped me. And is a reminder to all that we must be kinder to ourselves about school and to prioritize our mental health! Thank you for sharing
Reply
11/6/2023 01:55:37 pm
This is super well done I appreciate the time you put into writing this. Especially as grade 11 there is an overwhelming amount of work needed to be done but also just a lot of desire to suceed, this can more than often become the exhaustion of burnout. This blog has a lot of tips and tricks that can be very helpful in the overwhelming case of burnout.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
|