Dealing with burnout

September 19, 2022September 19, 2022 Luis Ochea

It’s only been a month into the school year, and I’m currently more burnt out than I’ve been in any other time of my life.

Junior year has been one of excitement, yet my stress is steadily rising. The workload has no mercy, and it will not be stopping any time soon.

The work cycle can be very cruel. Many students have honors classes and are in extracurriculars, myself included. I decided to take a few honors courses and a boatload of extracurriculars, as I felt confident I would be able to keep up. I was wrong.

I started the school year well, being able to do my assignments without much struggle. However, I’ve recently noticed how I’ve gotten much more buried in workload, rooted in my procrastination. It has become clear to me that I’ve surpassed my limits, and it is not particularly close.

Though the experience of junior year has been incredible thus far, as I’ve been able to enjoy myself more than I expected, I still cannot cover up how draining everything has been in comparison to my other years of education.

I’m often too drained from the school day to immediately work on assignments when I get home. I then end up working until midnight. My sleep schedule worsens, which in turn affects my overall ability to do school successfully.

This year has been quite stressful, and it probably doesn’t help that there are so many activities I enjoy. There are many things I want to get involved with on campus, but I know I must take a step back and make sure I’m burning out quickly.

This has been a drastic departure from my previous school years, where I felt like I could do anything. I had previously been able to slack off on doing homework, but with more rigorous courses on my schedule, I keep falling behind.

With the year only just beginning, I fear that the burnout I’m already feeling will negatively affect me as a whole, along with my grades and other activities.

If there’s any advice I can provide, it’s to know your limits. If you do not know your limits, then you may go into a hole that you may never recover from.