Avoiding semester burnout
By Sarah Van De Weert, Opinions Editor
Most people on campus reach their burn out point right before Reading Days. For whatever reason, that was not when I reached mine. Mine hit right about… Well, this week. Or last week. I am not really sure. I just know that I’m feeling pretty burnt out right now.
According to Wikipedia (which is the most reliable of sources, but hey, this is not a research paper), burnout refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work. That basically sums up my entire collegiate career. As I continued on in the article, I discovered that the burnout process has twelve different components. Let’s look at these.
1. The compulsion to prove one’s self. This is generally found at the beginning of the process and can also be explained as excessive ambition.
2. Working harder. This occurs when people establish high personal expectations, begin to focus only on work, and become obsessed with doing everything themselves in order to show they are irreplaceable
3. Neglecting their needs. Because people are so devoted to their work, they spend little time doing other things, such as seeing friends and family or sleeping…basically anything that is inessential to doing work.
4. Displacement of conflicts. This is basically the dissonance caused by the fact that a person knows they should not be so consumed with work, but they are unable to alter their behavior.
5. Revision of values. People begin to isolate themselves, avoid conflicts, and deny basic survival needs. Values also change to where they no longer value anything but work.
6. Denial of emerging problems. At this stage, a person becomes intolerant of all social interaction and blames this intolerance on time pressure and the work they have to do.
7. Withdrawal. Minimum social contact soon turns into complete isolation and alcohol and drugs may be sought after as a release.
After reading days, it can be pretty tempting to give up.
8. Obvious behavioral changes begin to be seen from the outside.
9. Depresonalization. A person begins to lose contact with the self and no longer sees themself or others as valuable, viewing life only in the present moment.
10. A feeling of inner emptiness leads to destructive activities to overcome it.
11. Depression. Typical psychological symptoms of depression arise—hopelessness, exhaustion, indifference, etc.
12. Burnout syndrome. A physical and emotional collapse that needs immediate medical attention.
Forbes shared 10 signs that a person may be experiencing burnout, including: exhaustion, lack of motivation, frustration/cynicism/other negative emotions, cognitive problems (ie. difficulty paying attention or concentrating), slipping job performance, interpersonal problems, not taking care of yourself, being preoccupied with work when not at work, decreased satisfaction, and health problems.
Reading through that list right now, I can check off most of those things in my own life right now. Luckily, Forbes also gives us some solutions as to how to prevent burnout from becoming worse. Things like setting aside time to relax, cultivating a rich non-work (or non-academic) life, unplugging from cell phones and email, getting enough sleep, and getting organized.
At this point in the semester, all of these things seem like impossibilities—I simply just do not have the time to do them! But I think after reading all this, I might just have to make the time. Because I don’t think I can make it until Thanksgiving without taking care of this burnout. So what’s next on my to-do list today: Taking a nice long walk in this beautiful weather.
