Melody Lipford, Columnist While the “hustle” mentality is present in the lives of most college students, there comes a time when the “go-go” spirit of students is replaced with only a natural response to seemingly nonstop scheduling. This completely normal process of a college student’s journey is called “burnout”. While burnout is not a daily experience, I believe it is an inevitable reality. In the beginning, you become used to a certain routine and may add additional things due to free time in your schedule. Eventually, your schedule is jam-packed, leaving you little opportunity for downtime and, in some cases, the appropriate time to even complete assignments and overall studying. When this happens, fatigue may set in and your overall purpose for even being in college becomes clouded or skewed. When this happens, you may lose interest in daily activities or the motivation to get through the day. If this happens on a recurring basis for several days and even weeks, you may be experiencing burnout. While burnout is never fun, it too shall pass. To get through the inevitable stages of burnout, I have a few tips that may help in working through the process. Primarily, I recommend going through your schedule and if it is possible to lighten your load or switch certain things to work better in your overall week. If you’re day seems too full, never add! It’s not fair to yourself or others you’re promising your entire presence to. It’s okay to have less quantity, so your overall work and presence is of more quality. In addition, I recommend setting aside a portion of time during the week to do nothing. That’s right...absolutely nothing. In burnout, it can get difficult to think clearly and to realign motivations with your goals. By allowing yourself time to rest, you are giving yourself permission to reflect and recharge for the next task at hand. An additional tip includes setting aside time to spend with your loved ones, friends, and family. Many times we forget in the midst of work and studying how good being around the people we love and who support us can be. Overall, please know that you are not the only one who has currently experienced burnout. It is a completely common and normal part of one’s college journey. Try out these tips and take the time you need to reevaluate and take actionable steps into decreasing your stress levels. If you are having issues with burnout or have other matters of concern please feel free to reach out to our campus resources. A few of these include the PRC where you can make appointments with campus counselors (276-944-6144), the Health Center for various needs, as well as the E&H Chaplains who are more than happy to meet with you in times of need. Peer Educators is also another student group aimed at promoting the college student’s overall health and wellness, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. Peer Educators meets on Monday at 4 p.m. in the I.D. Center. The group is always welcoming new members and aims to be a source of support not only campus-wide, but for its members as well. Regardless of whether you’re currently experiencing burnout or not, it’s easy to not feel alone when we all say: “The Struggle Is Real”.
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March 2020
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