What does burnout feel like? How do you know you're in too deep? We're reaching the point in the school year when everything piles up. The deadlines for all the work we've put off because "it's not due until the middle of the semester" are approaching fast. We all probably feel like we don't have the time to do it and we're all reaching the point in the semester when we feel burnt out.
Burnt out is staring at your computer screen for an hour straight and only writing one word because you do not know what else you can do. We've all been here and though we regret waiting until the last minute to complete our assignment, we'll probably do this to ourselves a million more times before the end of the year. Try making a schedule where you're only doing a little bit of an assignment at a time, and stick to it! It will help to reduce the stress of last minute work and prevent pulling an all-nighter the night before a big exam or assignment is due.
The feeling of burnout can, at least in my case, lead to forgetfulness. Sometimes when you're super stressed out about a few big assignments, you forget about the littler things in life. You become too focused on the negative and while it's important to handle the things that are causing stress in your life and finish them, it's equally as important to leave time to focus on the little things. Make sure there is time in your bust schedule to do the things that you enjoy. Take a break from your big assignment to take a stupid online quiz or grab some coffee. They are important too, and doing them will probably help reduce the stress of the bigger things you're worried about.
Burnout is not knowing what to say when someone asks you your post-graduation plans because you haven't had time to think about it. Take time to think about it. Your education is important, but your future is so much more. You need to do well and put in the effort to do so, but also put in the effort in focusing on you. Don't solely focus on the here and now. Dream a bit about your future and where you see yourself. Think about the job you want and where you want to live. Search apartments in the area and get ideas about the prices of where you want to live. Have fun with it, but take it seriously. Use the idea of where you want to be as motivation to get things done, and things will come much easier.
The mid-way point in the semester is always the roughest. Everyone is stressed and everyone is playing the "I have more to do than you" game. Remember that everyone stresses over different things and instead competing for being the most burnt out, do things together to help relieve the stress we're all in. Get your work done, but don't focus solely on your academics; focus a little on yourself too; it'll only help you in the end.
