At some point in your academic life, you’re going to burn out. It happened to me last year, and it was honestly one of the worst things that’s happened to me. It wasn’t just that I lacked the motivation, it was also that I completely lacked the energy to keep myself disciplined enough to work through the rut. Following this, I learned some tricks and techniques on how to avoid it in the future, and how to cope with it if it happens, and I’m going to share them with you below:
Avoiding Burnout
The primary cause of burnout is overworking, and getting stuck in a rut where you really don’t feel like you’re learning anything new, and so your learning experience becomes stagnant. I find that I come closest to burnout when I’m reviewing and revising my notes before a test, and being aware of this helps me to plan for it and avoid burning out. The most important things to do are as follows:
Plan your work and take breaks: I found that I could get 5-6 hours of studying done per day for 80% of the days I had over the holidays, and the key to that was taking regular breaks, and when taking breaks, to completely switch off from learning and revising and stop working when I said I was going to instead of being tempted to continue over the breaks (more on my productive holiday study routine and how to make one here). The key to effective studying is essentially to allow you brain the time to process what you’ve learned, and you need to remember to take breaks during a day of studying, and to take days off whenever you can.
Socialise:This is partly tied to the taking breaks, but if you put yourself in what could be considered a kind of solitary confinement when you’re working, your brain will learn less effectively and get distracted more quickly, and it is also likely to affect your mood. You may notice that the best students also party the hardest, and that’s because they know that they need to counterbalance the hard work with being sociable and doing things that aren’t at all related to work. It boosts your mood, and having the reward of being sociable keeps your brain and motivation fresh.
Physically get out of your study space: Even if it’s to go to a local café, or to go for a walk in the woods, it’s important to get yourself moving every so often, firstly so your brain can get a little bit more energised, but also so you don’t feel physically confined by the space you are studying in, or again you’re going to get demotivated and possibly even reach the stage of burnout. When I feel like this, I tend to either go for a run, or head somewhere where I can practise my cello without disturbing other people, just so my body and brain are physically away from my work for a bit.
Do something you love: For me, this includes doing stuff like playing my cello, but this also means taking a break by watching your favourite film, or drawing, or baking, or whatever makes you happy and really isn’t studying. It’s important also that in your free time (which is different from your break time) you’re doing things like these, and not letting your academics creep in, because you need to set up a mental and physical space where you aren’t constantly running at full speed in academic stuff, because a lack of escape mechanism means you’re going to get stuck in a burnout, which is honestly the worst.
What to do if you burn out
You can tell pretty quickly if you have burnout. If you feel physically and mentally dead, and completely lacking in any kind of motivation or discipline to get yourself to work, then you probably have burnout. I find that my burnout feels like a mental and physically deadness, and my head feels really heavy, like the machinery is all turning, but none of the cogs are making contact with one another and turning, so to speak. If you feel like nothing is working, then it’s important to not keep pushing (I’ve touched on this in previous posts where I’ve burnt out in exam season, but it’s important to crash, take a breath, and start again). Try the following:
Take a huge break: I know this may not always feel possible, but if you take a day off and do absolutely nothing, or at least nothing to do with your studying, your studying will get overall more effective. I took a rest day like this in the middle of my A-Levels (which, for my non-British friends, literally determine if you can get into university), and even though in the back of my mind I was really questioning if this was a good idea, it ended up really boosting my productivity and helping me really get my studying into gear
Scrap your current plan and make another one: I know this also sounds like another terrible idea, but if something isn’t working, you can’t stick with what you’re doing, or you’ll drive yourself further into the ground. Re-plan your study schedule (you can obviously use the previous one as a kind of template) and make sure you have time to take breaks. Also, I find that planning things gives me the motivation to actually go out and do them, so this helps in regaining your motivation.
Seek new perspectives: Talk to other people taking your subject if they’re available to talk. Discuss problems in the subject. Teach each other. This is a kind of group revision where, if you’re not going to get distracted, you can really genuinely learn new stuff and figure out what you don’t know. I found this useful when I couldn’t bring myself to revise on my own because I didn’t think I needed to look over anything more in particular detail, but the person I worked with helped to pick apart the things I didn’t know and helped explain them to me.
Try something new: If you have sufficient time to learn something new on the side, then do it. Find something you’re interested in, and research it further, or learn a new skill like cooking or playing guitar or something. If you burn out without pressure from exams, then learning something new is the perfect way of stimulating your brain back into action, and this in turn will have an impact on how effective your studying is as a whole, thus rescuing you from burnout
If you ever feel yourself burning out, then take action as soon as possible: the more you wait, the more you end up driving yourself into the ground and the harder it is to rescue yourself. A large part of studying that often gets ignored is the impact on your mental health, and if it begins at all to feel overwhelming or is forcing you to burn out, stop what you’re doing and make adjustments. If it gets really bad, then speak to someone, because you can’t constantly work at full speed without some repercussions. Please, please, please, look after yourself and your mental health, as they are a priority over your studying, and a sound mind and body will help you study much more effectively overall.
I received a comment on a recent video asking how I was. Wanted to provide a little update on where I am right now in my life. I don’t normally share a lot about my life or where I am personally, but I do believe this will align with my mission to help at least one person. Sending you all so much love. Not sure what this video really is or how to properly describe it since it’s a bit of a depression storytime, anxiety storytime, burnout storytime, how to grieve, how to set boundaries or maybe answers the question: do therapists need therapists? Just wanted to provide where I’m at. So if you’re struggling too, you’re not alone. And it’s temporary.
Burnout is honestly such a mild word for what people use it to mean. I’m not experiencing “burnout”, which sounds so casual and routine that some face masks and a little rest is going to fix it.
My body and mind and even nervous system are stretched to the point that it’s going to take a lot more than just a “break” or a few self care tips to recover, and even then, my recovery is just so that I can reenter the spaces that contributed to me being this way in the first place. I’m a little bit more than just burnt out by this.
Workplaces and educational institutions aggressively overwork us, expose us to all kinds of discrimination, which they overlook and gaslight us out of acknowledging, and then constantly ask us to ignore our mental, emotional, and physical needs so that we don’t inconvenience them.
We’re not burnt out. We’re borderline traumatized. Burnout is always talked about like something transient and mild that a little rest and relaxation will fix.
But we’re exhausted. We need deep rest and healing. We need new systems. We need new ways of being. The language around burnout just seems like a way of upholding these current violent systems and downplaying their impacts.
It’s only Tuesday and I’m alreadyburnt out! My boss has really been micromanaging theheckout of me lately and it’s draining every ounce of joy out of what I do.
Currently, I’m spearheading 3 massiveprojects at work and am not permitted the autonomy to directly contact the faculty members intrinsic to each project. Instead, I have to send my boss a “May I please…”, wait for her response, then send out the desired communications. So many layers of red tape just to schedule an initial zoom discussion. Meanwhile, I’m being assessed on what I do or do not accomplish in terms of tangible results. Like, sorry bruh, it’s hard to put forth anything tangible when 99% of my job has devolved into just emailing people. I’m hoping things will improve now that I’m (obligatorily) back on campus.
Sometimes it’s better to just reschedule if you’re too tired for something at the moment. It’s not fun to admit you don’t have the energy for someone or something today, but ultimately it’s better than burning yourself out. Good job for communicating today.
Sorry I haven’t posted a lot in the last couple weeks. Thinkin’ of taking a break for a bit honestly, feeling sort of burnt out honestly. Gotta recover and get the juices flowing again.
This totally has nothing to do with the fact that I started playing World of Warcraft again with my guy and may be slightly addicted. Not at all. *grins*
I still have a few images ready to work on, but I just haven’t had the motivation to work lately. I’m hoping a break will fix that and I can get inspired again! I just want to thank you all for the support and love you’ve shown me the last year and I’ll be back soon with more beefy and chunky orc boys soon
Can you tell I’m burnt out? No? Good that’s how I want it.
I’m going to die if I keep going, but society doesn’t give breaks, especially not for mental health. So….I’ve just increased my workload… because burning fast and bright is less painful than the slow burn.
so you relate to like every ADHD/ADD mood/feel post on your dash!
but when you look up ADHD/ADD diagnosis guidelines, you see things like:
‘symptoms must have started in early childhood/by the age of 3/7/12’
‘symptoms must be disruptive in at least 2 out of 3 life arenas throughout life’
which …isn’t the case for you.
if you suffer from ADHD/ADD-esque concentration & follow-through issues as a late teen/adult, but you’re pretty sure that you weren’t having those symptoms early on/growing up: you might be dealing with burnout.
(*not a real statistic. I’m just saying a lot of us millennials/gen z ppl are burning out.)
burnout can look a LOT like adult ADHD/ADD because it seriously fucks with executive function. some symptoms ADHD/ADD & burnout have in common:
struggling to concentrate
feeling paralyzed when asked to make decisions
procrastinating on ‘simple’ or ‘nonessential’ tasks
difficulty prioritizing work/errands/tasks
burnout also takes on depression-like symptoms such as:
feeling tired, exhausted, &/or irritated all the time
feeling like nothing matters/everything is ‘the same’
isolating oneself from others
changing appetite
the thing about burnout is: even if it looks like ADHD/ADD (or depression) to you, the treatment for burnout is nothing like the treatment for ADHD/ADD (or depression). it mostly involves getting rest & reducing stress (as if most of us have this option, but that’s a post for a different blog!) this is why it’s important to get the correct diagnosis - so the treatment can be the right one.
of course, that being said:
people with ADHD/ADD can also get burnout. in fact, ADHD/ADD can exacerbate burnout symptoms: it’s already hard enough to make decisions when the brain is healthy, much less when it’s so stressed you can barely think!
tl;dr:
because capitalism is a cruel mistress, a lot of people are just struggling to executive function b/c we’re burnt out by stressful, non-stop lives with no work-life separation and too many too-same buying options every time we try to buy something as simple as dish soap.
if you’re pretty sure you don’t have ADHD/ADD (or cousin developmental disorders such as ASD) but severely struggle with concentration/executive function, or you feel like you have ADHD but lack the developmental history to back it up: you might have burnout.
and your problems are still valid & still deserve treatment & management!
Use the cake mix that comes in a box. Use jarred pasta sauce. Use preseasoned meat. The correspondences are still there. Save your energy my dear.
I saw a post somewhere not too long ago that said “Don’t apologize for doing/buying things that make life easier for you.”
You do not need to earn your place in the world through struggle. If there are things you can do or get that help you and they are readily available GET THEM!!!! That way you can use your time and energy for things that are good for you which includes things that just make you happy!
- I know I might be jumping on to the bandwagon here, but this just made me cry.
I am experiencing a burnout. I am struggling at work in a job that’s not what I really wanted in the first place, but I can’t quit because I need to earn for the budget, bills, and etc. (being the breadwinner).
It’s not easy. I have plans for myself but I need to set them aside and prioritize what’s more important at the moment. It’s as if I keep on working, but not towards what I actually want to achieve.
Not to mention the type of job I have is reallystressful.
Every day. And then again. Another week. A month. It’s all the same. But I’m not moving.
It’s just burning me out. And when Rengoku said those words, I just couldn’t hold it in.
The other day @HowtoADHD was asking what we understood as #burnout and thought it would be a nice idea to illustrate. We need to check in with ourselves from time to time and understand what we need to balance. Burnout is no joke, so please try to listen to your body!
So, this time of year is great because my seasonal depression is stacking on top of my regular depression, and my holiday shopping anxiety is stacking on top of my regular anxiety. Double the fun in my brain! Woo-hoo! X_X
On twitter I’m seeing dozens of threads from Black activists warning people against burnout, giving all sorts of useful tips about preventing and managing it for the sake of a long-term, sustainable effort.
On tumblr I’m seeing a hell of a lot of young white kids yelling at anyone who actually follows those steps, and acting like burnout is a moral falling rather than a well-proven psychological phenomenon.
Be careful who you get your information from. Don’t let guilt lead you to make choices that will harm both you and the movement.
I’m going to reblog this again since I see more individuals are inquiring about burnout prevention tips in the notes and it’s why I sought out this resource. I hope it helps you!
Burnouts are not only real, but can cause actual physical damage to your cell structure, especially in the brain. This is why they find activists who burn out never return to the cause. It can take months, and sometimes even years to recover from bad burnouts if you do not also have a quality way to help recover from them.
You MUST take breaks, and let other people take breaks. It’s not weakness, it’s not lack of dedication, it is not selfish, it’s vital and important and a part of maintaining your health. Burnout has real, sometimes permanent consequences and must be taken seriously.
It can cause and exacerbate anxiety and depression disorders, it lowers your immune system (And we’re in the middle of a pandemic still), and it will permanently alter your ability to be passionate about the thing that caused it (And part of being an activist is passion. That’s what keeps people there).
Rest and recovery are just as important, if not moreso, than actually doing whatever you were doing that meant you need rest and recovery. R and R allow you to continue exercising, training, doing activism, the list goes on.
Needing to rest and recover does not mean you are a bad or lazy person, it means you are a person who needs to take a break. So take the break, it’s far better to be able to continue doing these things long term instead of for a short while and needing to leave for your own health.
