This is part two of my series on college burnout. In part one, I examined some of the symptoms burnout victims experience. In part two, I explained some of the causes of burnout. Today, in part three, I will mention some ways to recover from burnout.
College burnout is similar to normal burnout. In fact, the only difference is the victim: college burnout affects students while normal burnout affects people in the workplace.
If you think that you are experiencing the symptoms of college burnout, some of the tips outlined below might help you recover.
1. Contact Your Doctor
If you think you are suffering burnout, contact your doctor as soon as possible. Not only can your doctor help evaluate whether you really have burnout, but he can also help you recover if you do have burnout.
Also, remember that the ideas mentioned in this post are not medical advice and should not be used without your doctor’s advice.
2. Get More Sleep
Lack of sleep builds stress and can, over a long period of time, cause burnout. Therefore, if you are suffering from burnout, you may want to evaluate whether your stress is caused by too little sleep.
3. Lessen Course Load
A too-rigorous schedule can also cause burnout. If you are trying to do too much, stress can build up quickly.
If this is the cause of your burnout, simply lessening your course load might solve the whole problem.
4. Become More Social
If you have been a working too much and not spending enough time socializing, that might be the entire problem.
Start spending more time with others, and your burnout might burn itself out!
5. Start a Hobby
If you have been spending too much time working on school, work, and other difficult tasks, you might want to start adding more free time to your schedule.
During this newly found time, consider starting a hobby. Don’t worry about choosing one that is closely related to your projected career plan, but, instead, find one that you truly enjoy.
6. Cut Some Extracurriculars
If you participate in too many school-related activities, it may have the same effect as taking too many classes.
Stop some of the activities and replace them with a hobby as outlined in tip five.
7. Consider Changing Majors
Another possible cause of burnout is working toward a major that does not fit you well.
Although changing majors may seem like a big step, it is much easier to change majors in college than to change careers after college.
In fact, if you change early enough in college, changing majors might not take any extra time.
8. Gap Year
If you are just worn out with too much school, a type of “gap year” might be the best cure.
Normally, the gap year takes place between high school and college, but a similar break year might be advantageous during college itself if you are to stressed.
9, Change Something
In short, ending burnout requires change.
If you are experiencing college burnout, the worst option would be to simply continue and hope that it goes away. Unless you change something, you cannot expect the stress to lessen.
Try to find the cause of your burnout and stop the stress at its source.
Have you experienced college burnout? If so, what is your advice?
Important Note: As always, remember that I am not a health care professional, and the tips mentioned here are for entertainment and informational purposes only. Please contact your doctor if you think you have college burnout.
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Hi! I definitely experienced college burnout during my junior year of college (4th year out of 5 since Northeastern University is a 5 year program). I worked really hard since freshman year and my junior year was one of the hardest. I was planning on doing a 6-month co-op (paid internship) starting in July, but ended up going to San Francisco for a break from classes and work. My boyfriend was co-oping in SF so it was easy for me to get out there. While away I didn’t work and just traveled around town during the days.
I came back in September ready to work. My senior year course load was much lighter and I started crafting. I had an amazing creative streak going for a while. I pretty much did 4 things off your list. Good post!