Avoiding the Mid-Semester Burnout

Avoiding the Mid-Semester Burnout

We have come back from Spring Break and are right smack dab in the middle of the semester. All of our big assignments that seemed so far away are now just right around the corner. One of the biggest issues college students deal with at this point of the semester is burnout. Many students are feeling a lack of interest at this point in the semester and are just flat-out exhausted. Burnout is something many students experience, the positive is that there are many tips and tricks to avoid it.

One of the biggest ways to help with burnout is to get ahead of the problem; many times you will notice signs of burnout before you are fully dealing with it. Throughout the semester many of us take on task after task, doing this leads to being completely overwhelmed with stuff to do and not giving us the chance to take a break. It is important to learn to say no. Throughout the semester you should give yourself breaks to relax and regroup. 

Another major tip is to be consistent with your sleep schedules. So many students put sleep to the wayside or even at times take pride in their ability to work on a lack of sleep. This will only catch up with you in a matter of time. When asking fellow student Nile Jarrell how he avoids burnout he had this to say. “What I’ve learned over the past couple years here is that getting a good amount of sleep every night really helps me.” Getting consistent sleep is a major key to avoiding burnout.

Another great tip in avoiding burnout is knowing when to give yourself a break. Throughout our busy days it is important to give yourself increments of time to just shut everything off and relax. Something that can be helpful is finding something to do that gives you some sense of accomplishment, while also giving yourself a break. This could be something like going to the gym or reading a book. SNU student and Psychology major, Aaron Castaneda, said this about what he likes to do to avoid burnout. “In my free time I really like to listen to podcasts. They can be really interesting and fun, but I also feel like they help me learn something.”

Burnout is an issue all of us college students deal with at some point in the semester. It is important that we learn to create good habits and to not take on too much at once to avoid such a thing. 

Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash