Tips for Avoiding Burnout
Key takeaways
We need hope: Having a reason to work hard is the best motivation for getting through a period of exhaustion.
Lift yourself up: Take advantage of the many methods proven to help with burnout, both externally and internally.
You’re not alone: There are mentors ready to help you through any hard times, and a future waiting with a stronger version of yourself.
Burnout, you know?
We are at that point in the year where life just feels like it’s piled on a little too heavy, right? That’s a little-known phrase: burnout. This is the feeling of both physical and mental exhaustion. For college students, especially last semester seniors such as myself, we just want to make it through finals season! Summer is right around the corner, just a month and a half to the finish. For those working full time jobs, those Summer Friday’s or far in advance planned vacations are extra enticing right now! Just the simple thought of later sunsets can instantly boost our moods. As much as we all wish we could fast forward time, I don’t have a time machine for us to use today. The thing I do have, is tips for avoiding burnout! To start, remember what you are working towards. Burnouts biggest enemy is the feeling of no reward, so just think of long walks on the beach or 3 months of no studying. It’s that hope that will keep you on your feet, and extra motivated, right now!
With that hope at the forefront of your mind, you can combat burnout by learning to prioritize yourself. Oftentimes, that exhaustion you feel is because you are giving so much energy to outside tasks and not saving any for personal growth. While you should be devoted to your career and academic work, that does not make up all of you. Your hobbies and the people you love should be equally as important in order to feel fulfilled at the end of a day. Take time to reconnect with yourself on an emotional and physical level each day. This time to refuel will combat feelings of not having enough time for yourself. Instead of scrolling on social media for 20 minutes before bed, take 10 of those minutes to ground yourself. For the emotional aspect, talk to a roommate or call a long-distance friend to discuss both the good and bad parts of the day. Dissecting what went well and what could have gone better will set you up for success the next day. For the physical aspect, choose one area of your body that feels tense and do a 5-minute stretch for it. These small pieces will give your day back to yourself.
You can do it!
There are many activities that have been proven to help with burnout. Take any or all these methods to make a hard day feel just a little brighter. Exercise is one of the main supplements to overcome burnout! This connects back to your physical wellbeing, while also clearing your mind. Free Mind, The Studio is a place that welcomes both exercise and the release of mental roadblocks. Wherever your exercise takes you, take Free Mind’s values with it! When lifting weights at the gym focus on only that task, not the paper due in 3 days. Separating your personal time from your working time is an incredibly important skill to learn during this process. Connecting with friends is another great method to avoid burnout! As I mentioned, just one phone call or end of day recap can help take the days weight off your shoulders. However, meeting up with a friend for dinner or going shopping on the weekend are even more beneficial connections. Our friends help to bring out our true personalities, so we won’t always feel sucked up in business professional mode. Lastly, keeping up with your health and a nutritional diet will make your body lift itself up. We need to fuel our bodies with a well-rounded meal for them to fully function. If we aren’t helping our bodies, they cannot help us in return. Of course, some ice cream at the end of the day is always welcome, but so are the vegetables, carbs, and protein throughout the rest of the day! Balance in nutrition will be the biggest boost to your day, physically and mentally.
While those activities are more outwards daily, there are some more internal methods to combat burnout. One of those is journaling! For any parts of your day, you need to get off your chest, but you don’t want to speak about with a friend, write it down. Getting a thought out of your brain and onto paper will basically make it disappear. Clear your mind by taking the thoughts out of it. Mindfulness is another practice for connecting with yourself. There are so many meditations online to act as guidance for your journey. Even just sitting and focusing on deep breaths, trying to stop your mind from wandering, can bring a sense of peace. The last solo piece of avoiding burnout is simply to get enough sleep! No task is worth the risk of sleep deprivation. Health should always be a #1 priority in life, so the biggest way to beat physical and emotional exhaustion from burnout is to just give yourself the time to rest.
Find your future
After going through how you can implement some fuel back into long days, remember that this journey does not have to be done alone! Don’t be afraid to seek support from professors, a boss, or even a parent. These people are put into positions of leadership to help guide you, so let them bring some grace back into your life. Remember that they are human too and have felt senses of burnout before. It’s all about getting back on track to an uplifting life with even more passion involved. Breakthroughs from these spouts of burnout will always leave you stronger, you just must guide yourself through them. Finding the "end” of a difficult period will make the work effort feel so worth it! I am pushing through to the end of my degree with a sense of relief and excitement for the future, find that light for yourself. It’s your own hope that will subside the burnout, so dream big.
