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.
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The power of technology to me is insane. You can walk down the street and almost everyone will have a phone or laptop on them no matter where you go. When looking at old movies such as “Back to the Future” everyone assumed we’d have flying cars or robots and although that seems pretty cool I sure as hell am glad we don’t have those things yet. I think that we should take a step back and fix the dangers before we take 2 steps forward and make more technology. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my phone but sometimes I can’t help but think about how different my life would be without it. One of my biggest problems with technology is how hard it is to put it down once you’ve picked it up. It’s very often that when I find myself trying to complete homework or do other tasks I get easily distracted by my phone and always end up on it. The drawback with this is that technology or not, my biggest problem is already procrastinating on things and it seems as though my phone and procrastination are the best toxic duo. I will try to do homework and once I get notifications on my phone from friends I suddenly lose all interest in my work, my attention span shortens, and all my focus goes towards my phone. Now if I give into those impulses and pick up my phone, the next time I look at a clock or put my phone back down will be 2 hours later. I find this happens because once I open my phone and check those messages I’ll get sight of other apps and want to use them as well. If I don’t give into those urges and continue to work, with each message I get my work ethic goes down. As this is such a big problem for me and I have lost a lot of time from my phone, here are some of the best ways I've found to be able to do work without my phone as a distraction:
Not only does technology and social media affect my worst habit of procrastination, it can also majorly affect mental health which not enough people realize. As of right now, there are 850 million users on Tiktok and 1 billion users on Instagram and i’ve noticed the majority of those users we see when scrolling are influencers. While some influencers create content purely based on entertainment, a lot of the time there are influencers who will only post or talk about their ‘perfect’ life moments which can change what we viewers consider to be normal. These media can easily affect our self esteem, body image, and self worth and I think that is why it’s often that young people have started to feel pressured when posting on and using social media. A study in the UCLA Brain Mapping Center showed that social media has become so addictive that when posting, our brains can react to the ‘likes’ or comments we receive on those posts, which actually makes us want to post more. With posting pressures and cyberbullying it’s no surprise that depression and anxiety have been found to commonly link with social media. Mental health and wellness are extremely important so here are some ways to positively use social media that can help reduce anxiety:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/07/30/5-ways-to-overcome-online-social-media-fatigue-for-mental-well-being/?sh=593d4fbe1cfa Avery R When I was thinking about what to write for this blog my mind went right to how quarantine affects your mental health. You wouldn't really think much about this but it is important. Being in one place not allowed to leave on week’s end is really bad for you and can actually make you mentally ill. Quarantine has 3 major effects on your mind autonomy, competency and connectedness. This isolation we face today is making people feel like they are not in touch with the world because everything has shut down. It pretty much feels like you're trapped, you don't see as many people as you once did. The American Psychological Association says that feeling isolated can lead to poor sleep, depressive symptoms, manage your emotions etc. in the last quarantine 31.% of people had depressive symptoms. If you are feeling these symptoms you can find ways to manage your mental health, for example, you can google ways to help and try a whole bunch of different ones. Here let me google that for you.
Madison Have you had such a moment when you might want to say “no”, but you still can't? Have you had such a moment when you end up saying “yes” only because you don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings, and then you feel unhappy and unpleasant? Have you had such a moment when you even try to be nice to others at the expense of yourself? For example, whenever you're asked for help, you always think about it, even if you have important work to do, even if you have to give away 2-3 hours or more for some requests, or give up sleep to catch up on your work. After a while, you may realize that this isn't helping you at all. You spend a lot of time and energy on others, but hardly as much on yourself. The situation is particularly frustrating because it is self-inflicted. So you need to learn to say “no”.
Why do we find it so hard to say “no”? To learn to say no, we must first understand what is holding us back. Here are five common reasons people find it difficult to say “no”: 1. You want to help. You don't want to turn people down. You want to offer help where possible, even if it might cost you time. This is when you need to consider that the other person may rely on you instead of learning to deal with their own problems. The short-term help you give to others actually hinders their long-term self-growth. 2. You are fear of being rude. I was brought up with the idea that it's rude to say no, especially to older people. This perception is common in Asian cultures, where saving face is important. Saving face means not making others look bad (or not making them look bad). 3. You want to appear easygoing and are afraid of conflict. If you turn them down, you worry that they will get angry. This could lead to an ugly confrontation. Even in the absence of conflict, disagreements can have negative consequences later. Thus, you choose to be submissive. 4. You are fear of losing opportunities or paying the price. Sometimes you feel that saying no to someone might annoy them and cost you some day. 5. You want to play it safe by keeping your options open. Some people take "no" as a signal to completely refuse something or somebody, thinking that doing so might lead to a "no way out" or a "break-off." If any of the above applies to you, I would like to tell you that these reasons are totally misunderstood. Saying "no" doesn't mean you're rude or that you're not easygoing. Saying "no" does not mean future conflicts or lost opportunities. Saying "no" doesn't mean you're done. These are all misconceptions in our minds. It's not the fact that you choose to say “no”, but how you say “no”, that affects the outcome. After all, you have your own priorities and needs, just as everyone has their own needs. Saying "no" has to do with respecting and valuing your time and space. The language to say “no”, permission to gracefully disappoint others, strategies for setting firm boundaries that honour one’s time and energy can appear selfish at first, but they are the pivotal tools for better self-care. It's your right to say “no”. Rookie H Do you know the feeling of self pressure? How do you define self pressure? I define self pressure as something that you require or expect on yourself. You can pressure yourself in different life situations or example in school, friends or hobby. I think self pressure could be great. I need self pressure so that I can reach goals, get better, work with more concentration and work faster. Without any self pressure I would be lazy. But it isn't healthy when self pressure makes our life worse. So don’t ignore the pressure. Don't ignore symptoms of your body. When you have the feeling you should take a break, have a break. I'm not sure if you know the feeling of self pressure and I don't know how self pressure looks like for your case. But for example when you worked hard the whole week for school and you went late to bed and woke up super early. Take the time and go to bed early or sleep off the next day. It could be healthy and helpful to have a break between your activities and take a rest for a moment. Instead of going forward and ignoring all the signals that your body sending you. If you ignore all signals you will have probably one day a big problem. Where you have to take a break for a longer term. In case of one day. I know a person who worked hard for 3 years .He didn't take any breaks. The result
was that he was burnt out and depressed. He only worked for his goals. His goal was to get a 0.8 average. He got it. Then he started to study psychology and build a business. He Got it. He achieved all his goals but he didn't take any breaks. So the result was that he had to take a huge break. But self pressure doesn't have to look like this. I also can see it by myself in small situations. For example when I felt sick, I had to go to the gym because my goal is it to go 4 times in the week to the gym. But I knew it would be better when I go to the gym when I'm completely healthy again. But I saw that I can achieve my goal and so I went to the Gym. The result was that I was really sick the next day and I couldn’t go to the gym for a longer term. Emily P Have you ever noticed that each day consists of more or less the same routine every day? For me it looks like this: wake up, get ready, throw some snacks together for breakfast and lunch, then school. At school it’s the same classes, the same flex space and the ongoing procrastination. After school I have XBLOCK musical theatre or homework and then work or go to youth. I have come to the same point in my life multiple times where I am just so bored of living the same week over and over again. My question is why is that? Why don’t we make an effort to make life interesting sometimes or to go on spontaneous adventures? Why don’t we meet new people and go do things we’ve never done before? I’m sure you can predict the answer: WE ARE IN LOVE WITH COMFORT!! But comfortable things get boring after a while haven’t you noticed? When was the last time you tried a new food? Or the last time you decided to go out to do a fun activity you’ve never done before with your friends? Life is not meant to be repetitive and boring, it is meant to bring excitement and surprises and to be lived to the fullest! Life begins at the end of your comfort zone! As I'm sitting here writing this, I often look back on my life and think about the people and experiences that have made my exciting and adventurous. The people in my life, the places I’ve been and the memories I’ve made have all come together to make my life the way it is. Although I am not one to say that my life is the most exciting, what put all these questions into my head about why it isn’t, was as simple as a text from a loved one. Around 20 minutes ago I received a message saying “ hey do you want to just drop everything tomorrow and go on an adventure to Seattle, we could go to the zoo or down to the market, whatever you like let's just go on an adventure”. Imagine if we actually took time to do spontaneous things and to live life to the fullest each day! What holds us back though is comfort, excuses, and often fear. For those of you like me, I have a massive bucket list that I am determined to complete. But how come I haven’t made an effort to go out of my comfort zone to do them? The key to living a life full of adventures and excitement begins with the desire to try something new, to go out of your comfort zone and to be courageous. Cause honestly, why not? Could you sacrifice that thing that’s holding you back for an opportunity to learn more about yourself, to adventure and communicate with new people? I am a huge believer that everything happens for a reason. So don’t be afraid to take risks. Ya know it is important to take time for yourself!!! It is important to sometimes be like yeah you know what I’m actually going to pursue this or I’m going to finally going to go to this place I’ve been dreaming about for years. Cause that is what makes life interesting. And it doesn’t have to be a big thing like a spontaneous adventure to Seattle, it could be shaking up your morning routine, eating a heck of a ton of food just for the fun of it, caring less about the little things and being open to what life has to offer. There are so many other ways for you to find excitement in your day to day life, but it does involve effort and an open mind. My challenge for you is to step out of your comfort zone; to try something new! Because I can guarantee you that there is more to this life then your same old boring routine. Life is meant to be spent adventuring and learning and growing as an individual. So what is it today that you’re going to try or do to make your everyday routine more exciting? What changes need to be made?
Never be afraid to try something new, because life gets boring when you stay within the limits of what you already know:) - Anonymous Emily C There are 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86400 seconds in a day. It seems like a lot; in reality, it is not. Every morning, I wake up with a to-do list swarming through my head. “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.” It is one thing to say something, but another actually doing it. So, you get the motivation, free up your schedule, and get your hands dirty. 9am, you have a set, well thought out, minute by minute schedule that you have packed as many tasks and jobs into as you possible. You finish your first task and decide to take a little break. So you sit down, do some savasana, listen to some music, and breathe. Before you know it, an hour has passed, and you are way behind schedule. You try your best to finish all of your remaining tasks, but you only end up getting through the first few. That super fun task that was your motivation to get moving is missed. By the end of the day, you are exhausted as it has taken a toll on you. The next morning, you get up and form a schedule in your head, similar to the previous day, though, there is a slight downfall. When you are forming your schedule, you must add what you missed the previous day, as you do not want to put off an important task. So you prioritize and work in order of due dates, therefore, you do not finish a task too early, or leave it to the last minute. The day has passed, and you have finished all the tasks that needed to be completed from the previous day, as well as tasks from the present day. Though, you are back to square one as you will need to use the next day to complete the remaining tasks from the present day. When you look at this on the grand scheme of things, it is never ending, and that is life. Yes, in order to be successful you must put in the time and effort, and that is most prominently evident through work; though, I personally feel that I am not paying attention to my life in the present. I am simply flashing forward to the future, and focusing my efforts towards building a strong future for myself. Sure, it is important to work hard right now, because your younger years will dictate your life as an adult (or at least that is what I am told). One question that constantly swarms my head has finally made sense to me: “What is the point of focusing all my efforts towards my future, and burning myself out so much that that future never comes to be?” I have come to draw out this thought and have realized that yes, building your future is important, but if you don’t live in the moment, what is your future really worth? After reading 11 easy ways to you can fit mindfulness into your busy life by Leo Babauta, I developed a strategy that is sure to benefit everyone and their busy lives: slowing ourselves down, even if the clock keeps ticking. If you sit still and do nothing for a few moments, simply breathing, you will be less stressed and anxious when completing your daily tasks. If you keep a less packed, flexible daily schedule, you will have room to add in other things as the day goes on. Lastly, do not think about too many things at once; this causes unnecessary stress and anxiety that will affect you and your cognitive and physical performance. If you focus all of your attention to one single thing, you will be able to complete that task to the highest quality in half the time it would have taken if you tried multitasking. Mentioned below are some early signs of burnout and how to prevent and avoid it.
Out of the twenty four hours in a day, we spend one third sleeping. We spend another third working or studying away, whatever our occupation may be. That leaves us with the last third of the day. This chunk of time ends up being used as preparation and commute time before and after our occupations, and then household chores and other commitments in the evening. That leaves us with little to no time for OURSELVES. Self care is the most important thing and should be people’s number one priority. We were born with one head, two arms, two legs, one heart, one body. We are to take care of our bodies as they are the only ones we get. We must honour this duty and take care of our ourselves, because our futures will be worthless without our bodies get us through it.
Janeva S Leadership starts with yourself. I personally believe that this is something a lot of people overlook when they think of a leader. But the reality is, you can’t lead other people if you are not capable of leading yourself first. Self-care is many things, but also one thing, all at the same time. Whether it is keeping procrastination levels under control, meditating or self reflecting, self-care is necessary for managing stress and helping us be present in our daily lives. I am someone who is always on the go. My mind never turns off, and I noticed that started taking a toll on my grades, friendships and overall quality of life. So I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to take my self-care into my own hands, except I didn’t know where to start. Self-care has so many manifestations! From getting a good sleep every night; to eating a healthy diet; meditating and exercising regularly; - it all seemed so obvious - but so essential to being happy, productive, and fulfilled at school and in life. This article by the Huffington Post put me on the right path to figure out where I needed more self-care in my life. But really, how does this all relate to leadership? Well, unfortunately, many high-achieving leaders admit that self-care is at the bottom of their to do lists. It’s so easy to make excuses when you’re busy. In short, taking care of yourself is part of our job. It isn’t optional. Paul Sohn explains, “If you really want to reach your full potential, you need to be at your best where you have the full mental, emotional and physical energy. And if you keep ignoring self care you’ll keep performing at a sub-par level.” Okay, so the point is: it’s important to work self-care into our lives, in order to become better leaders. But how do we do that when life just gets so busy? The first step, is to take a step back and recognize that taking a break isn’t selfish. It’s necessary for you to function at your best capacity and necessary if you ever want your team to grow. Then, you need to schedule time for self-care. Quite often you will feel that you have no time in your day for it, but, in all honesty, you need to make time. So, write a to-do list; start a bullet journal; write a note on your phone; however you keep track of your daily life, start making specific time for yourself. If you have specific time allocated for your self-care, you’re less likely to skip it. Now that all the importance of self-care has been established, here are 5 tiny ways to amp up your new found self-care routine:
With a small bit of attention to your self-care, the fog will lift. I can guarantee that you will feel better and see yourself becoming a better leader. Keeping yourself in tune will help you keep others in tune.
Emma O |
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