When You’re on a Break, Take a Break
By Sarah H on Updated:
The holiday season is happening. Wait. An extra couple days off? Someone else may be doing some delicious cooking and you could partake? Sports on TV and a general camaraderie, perhaps a snippy fight and a guilt trip and family feeling all the feels? Perfect and priceless.
But of course, you have so much to do. So. Much. This is extra time, gifted to you by the gods of turkey and cranberry sauce! There will be nothing on your schedule so you can use this time to catch up on a few things, right? Well before you email yourself the pertinent links and shove a bunch of textbooks into your weekender bag, stop.
Burnout is a real and scary thing that many students can face. With everything piling up on you, and schedules tight as can be, your instinct might be to take every scrap of extra time you get, even those in a holiday break, and use it towards school and work. But choosing these options time and again can slowly break down your academic resilience and create a more detrimental world of stress for you in the long run.
Burnout can manifest as:
– Energy more quickly spent in general
– Boredom
– Mood swings
– Disinterest in the projects you chose in the first place
– Negative feelings about yourself and your work
– The urge to throw in the towel, sometimes on school in general
Doesn’t sound like a picnic, does it? One of the ways you can avoid this monster? TAKE YOUR BREAK. Don’t multitask, don’t bring notes …nothing. You need that time to recharge, to let things go, to allow the batteries for all of the directions you live your busy life in to recharge. Being refreshed instead of stressed has a physical way of manifesting itself, and it’s going to mean you’ll be spry and awake (mentally) when you hit the books again.
Even if you don’t have something planned, promise yourself that you’ll spend at least one day doing something that brings you pure joy and so much chill. Don’t feel guilty, you’ve earned it.