Surviving Academic Burnout

Happy October first! October has always been one of my favourite months, and not just because it hosts both my birthday and Halloween… 

October is when I first really begin to notice the season changing from summer to autumn. The leaves change colours and the cool breeze nips away at you despite the sun still shining bright. Warm tea and coffee become the drinks of choice and of course, pumpkins are everywhere! 

It’s during this time I like to remind myself that just like the weather and the leaves falling off of trees, we too go through seasons of life. 

Right now I'm in my season of learning to take life day by day. Reminding myself that I don't have to be out and about on some crazy expedition in order to be happy. I can feel joy wherever I am if I go into it with a positive attitude. I'm in my season of school work and productivity. If I'm honest though, I'm in my season of burnout. 

I have to be working towards something to feel productive. Whether that's school, my career, or a personal project; I need something. Otherwise, I start to feel lost. 

On the flip side, filling my time too much with one thing causes me to have severe burnout. I saw a quote online recently that said, "if you don't allow yourself time to rest, your body will choose that time for you" Without proper time to rest and reset, our bodies will naturally pick that time for us; regardless of our plans. 

I'm in full-time classes this semester, 5 days a week! Then I have two extra side courses I'm taking online. Along with my part-time job, I feel like I've been left with little to no time for rest, let alone any of my self-projects or mini adventures. 

Chances are, you've felt like this at some point too. Maybe even right now.

So how do we combat this?? How do we deal with this burnout?

I think the first step is always to simply take a step. But not forwards; Backwards. Step back and take a look at everything, what's working and what isn't. What are your priorities? Obviously mine right now is school. For me personally, my self-projects are something I've been neglecting lately which are rather important to me. I want to be able to make time for them again. Which is why I'm writing this after almost a month of not writing anything! What a joy to be writing again. 

So what isn't working? Is it your sleep schedule? Maybe it's been all over the place making you more tired than usual. Or is it the fact that you're seeing your friends or partner every day after class leaving no time for yourself? 

For me, what's not working is my work. Now that I have classes 5 days a week rather than 4 or 3 like I usually do, I'm left with only one full free day per week... which usually gets booked up a week or more in advance. So I get little to no homework or studying done over the weekend, which puts me behind for the following week.

On top of having little to no weekend, I also work evenings after class 2 nights a week. And this has completely thrown off my sleep schedule. I'm more of an "in bed by 9" girly, but when I don't even get home until 9:30, and then need my hour or so to eat, decompress and get ready for bed, I'm not even thinking about getting into bed until 10:30 or 11. 

But how do I deal with this? Just quitting my job isn't really an option, it's not like I make any money from this blog!

One thing I've started doing is creating more time for myself. I'll plan my outfit the night before so it's ready when I wake up. I've also started going to school as early as I can before class and going to the library, forcing myself to either study or get some work done. This way I get my work done earlier in the week so if I do get any free evenings or weekends, I have more time for myself. 

But as much as it is looking at practicality, it's also about looking at what we can change from our mindset. 

Sometimes you just need to let go and DANCE! Of course, you can't just dance the burnout away, but you sure can try and stomp it out! 

Sometimes I think we as people simply need to take a break from all the stress and worry we build up through our lives. At the end of the day, we aren't here to be constantly stressed out or working so hard that we never get a break. We are here to enjoy life, enjoy our relationships, enjoy the world. Whatever that means to you. And hey, maybe working yourself to burnout is your form of enjoyment, but I think for most people, it's a sign that we need to take a breather. Ask ourselves, is this really what I want? Is this working for me? What can I do to make it more enjoyable? How can I have a little more fun every day? And then implement those answers into our everyday lives, little by little. 

Slowly I've been learning to not put so much stress on myself to do things perfectly. I've been learning to bring joy to the mundane, to go with the flow when things go wrong. I find that the days and times when I implement this mindset, I have a lot more fun and get a lot more enjoyment out of my day. 

Burnout sucks for sure. In the moment it can feel like there’s no end, like something you used to enjoy is now gruesome and dreadful. Taking a deep breath is a great place to start on getting through it. 

Sometimes all you need is a deep breath to clear your mind before you ask yourself the why and how. Thinking of and implementing the changes is quite easy in comparison.