Burnout is something that everyone struggles with, and I am no exception. For me, burnout manifests mentally and physically. I can tell I’m burnt out when I have a headache that doesn’t seem to fade, I’m struggling to focus for longer than a few minutes, I’m tired all of the time, I reach for my phone more than usual, and the end feels incredibly out of reach.
When you’re at a college like Amherst and constantly have new assignments due, burnout can feel like your biggest enemy. The fact that you have assignments looming ahead of you is why you’re feeling burnt out, but also why you need the burnout to go away ASAP. With it being finals period here at Amherst College, this is the worst time to experience burnout, but also one of the easiest time to get it, which is why I’m doing to share with you some tips on how to prevent burnout from starting, as well as what to do to get through it when you are experiencing it.
Tips to Prevent Burnout From Happening
- Give yourself free alone time every day: when you live on campus and are constantly surrounded by other people and hanging out with friends, it’s hard to remember how valuable alone time is. Taking time every night to enjoy your own company and engage in an individual hobby is so important, because it allows you to reflect on the day’s events and gives your brain a break from doing work/school-related tasks and socializing. I try my best to give myself at least two hours at night to be alone in my room and read (for fun), color, journal, or watch a show. I’ve noticed that when I fail to allow myself this time, the burnout comes much quicker.
- Set times to take breaks from homework: our minds are not made to focus for hours on end, so giving them a break is a must! When I try to dedicate five-six hours to doing homework without planning any breaks in, I find myself procrastinating and taking more unnecessary breaks than I do when I plan them out. The Pomodoro technique is a way to do this, which involves working for a set amount of time, such as 45 minutes, and then taking a shorter break, such as 10 minutes, and repeating these sessions four times (or as many as necessary).
- Fit physical activity into your daily schedule: to be honest, I’ve had a hard time taking my own advice on this one. When you have a lot of homework, classes, club meetings, etc. in one day, it can feel impossible to make time for physical health. But I have found that I feel so much more mentally refreshed on the days that I get some sort of physical activity, whether it be going on a walk, running on the Rail Trail, lifting at the gym, or doing pilates in my room. Using our physical muscles takes the strain off of our mental muscles. So, even if you can only spare 5 minutes a day, use it to take move your body!
- Practice intentional self-care everyday: self-care can look like many different things and can be mental or physical, but my tip is to do something every day in order to intentionally take care of your self, and make a note of it each day. This is something that I’ve recently implemented into my life, and I’ve noticed that it has made me pay way more attention to if and how I’m taking care of myself each day.
Tips to Get Over Burnout
- Talk to someone about it: sharing your feelings with someone else is a great way to understand what’s happening and why you’re experiencing the burnout, as well as a great way to know that you’re not alone and that you will get through it. You can talk to a friend, schedule an appointment with the Counseling and Mental Health Center, or even talk out loud to yourself.
- Lower the amount of tasks you do in a day: in order to do this, I like to write out a list of all of the things that I think need to get done that day. Then, I categorize them into things that ABSOLUTELY need to get done, things that I WOULD LIKE TO get done, and then things that CAN WAIT. Next, I delete all of the things from the last two categories and only set goals to do things in the ABSOLUTELY one. Often, I think that I can get a lot more done in a day than I actually can and set myself a long to-do list, and then when I don’t accomplish everything I feel like I failed, which leads to burnout. After making a list and categorizing it, I realize that I don’t need to bite off more than I can chew, and have a less stressful day without scrambling to finish everything.
- Leave your phone in a different room when doing homework: When I’m experiencing burnout, my phone looks even more appealing than usual… which leads to me picking it up whenever I try to do homework, not getting my work done, feeling stressed, and becoming even more burnt out (it’s a cycle!!). Knowing that I am prone to this, I like to leave my phone out of reach when I’m planning on doing homework, whether it be in a different room or even a different building (I like to leave it in my dorm when I go to the library to study).
- Romanticize doing your work: study at a cafe, or at Frost Library or the Science Center, get yourself a coffee or a matcha, record time lapses of yourself studying, watch inspiring study vlogs on YouTube. When you feel like what you’re doing is cool, you’ll be more motivated to do it!
Burnout is real and it is inevitable, but there are things we can do to make it a little bit more bearable. I hope that you found these tips helpful and implement some of them into your own life! Thank you for reading, and feel free to reach out to me at hsmith28@amherst.edu 🙂