Student Blog: How I'm Dealing With Burnout This Early Into The Semester

Currently, I'm starting my fourth week of the spring semester and wow, I am tired. I was dealing with pretty bad burnout at the end of last semester but I had the whole winter break to get back to a state of mind where I would feel comfortable and confident coming back to school. Now that I'm back and getting into a routine of sorts, I feel like I ran straight into a wall and now I'm dealing with the backlash. Being burnt out this early in the semester is really difficult because there's still so much time until the semester is over.

I think part of my burnout is coming from the number of things happening at the beginning of every semester. Getting used to new professors, new classes, and new people can be a lot of change at once. I normally experience some bout of exhaustion during the earliest part of the semester because you go from not doing schoolwork and being at home to going back to school and having work to do immediately. I think something else adding to my stress this semester is that I'm dramaturging a musical for the first time. I have no problem with dramaturging and I'm so looking forward to this process but it came at an early time in the semester when I'm still trying to figure out a schedule and routine. Adding rehearsals and directors meetings on top of that does add to the stress because I didn't have a great experience with dramaturging last semester, so I'm almost expecting that stress again. The constant cold, snow, and lack of sun definitely don't help with being tired and having no energy.

I've been trying to come up with different ways to deal with the burnout and the feeling of not wanting to do the work I know I should do and need to do. Obviously, nothing has cured the burnout yet, but I think it's going to take time and moving around things that can be moved in my schedule so I have time to myself. I've found solace in writing in my journals. I find that writing in my journal feels better than typing things out so I try to carve out time to just write down what I'm feeling. Even if I don't come up with any solutions to fix my problems, they feel lighter once I get them off my chest. I've also been turning to my friends a lot more lately. Sometimes I just give them a call or we hang out and don't focus on any issues I've been having. While I do use my friends as a shoulder to cry on, it's also nice to have times when we can just talk about things not related to school or classes. One of my friends recently introduced me to tarot cards and oracle, which I've been learning about and trying to use to focus on what's happening in my life. I also made a huge list of movies I want to watch before the end of the semester and I am making my way through them. For me, I'm more likely to do something if it's on a list and I can check it off, so the movie list allows me to do that but also to relax and just chill out.

Burnout is a very serious issue that is affecting so many of us. I think the spring semester is really hard, especially in the beginning because the end of the year is so close yet so far at the same time. I'm still taking it day by day and there are some days when I get so much done and then there are days when I do not. I've been trying to accept that both days are good to have and that I should not be pushing myself to exhaustion. I think it's a learning process and I'm still figuring out the best way to treat myself and the best way to work with what I need to do versus my brain capacity to do it.