Coping with Burnout: Causes & Prevention

With waves of academic work, extracurricular activities, and part-time work outside of studying, it is common among university students to experience burnout. According to Mental Health UK, 1 in 5 workers felt unable to manage pressure and stress levels at work. If you’ve found yourself wallowing in the negativity brought on by burnout, you are not alone. To cope with burnout, it is important to delve into some of its underlying causes.

Burnout 101: Causes & Symptoms

Do you find yourself repeatedly struggling with time-limited tasks? University courses require a huge amount of time and effort to achieve a high standard of performance. Especially for newcomers with minimal knowledge of how to tackle readings and assignments, it is often overwhelming at first. Trying to simultaneously understand the theories explained to us in lectures and readings, whilst learning how to make applicable those theories in our own work, can be incredibly stressful. You might even start questioning if you belong here or have made the wrong choice coming to university. Many ask themselves: “do I deserve to study here?” When stressed, students often carry on working just to make the deadlines of tasks, ignoring feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. All these accumulated thoughts and stress lead to burnout.

Apart from the stress caused by the requirement of completing tasks in a limited timeframe, extracurricular commitments can also contribute to burnout. University is an amazing place to start networking with like-minded people. Likewise, joining societies is a popular way to meet communities with whom you share common interests. However, it can be intimidating and draining when you feel you must attend every social event.

The above two factors are common main contributors to burnout. Looking at them from a wider angle, its evident that they are linked to perfectionism and inadequate self-care. As students, achieving a work-life balance is hard, resulting in a struggle with falling behind on academic work and FOMO (fear of missing out). These two overwhelming frustrations often lead to burnout. With all the time spent on trying to be ‘perfect’, there is little time left for self-care, furthering burnout. How are we supposed to cope with this?

Sort Out Your Priorities!

“She needs to sort out her priorities” – a quote from Harry Potter fan-favourite, Ron Weasley. He’s not wrong – sorting out your priorities can help cope with burnout! Have you tried writing down three main goals to achieve when planning out your day? We have limited time – there is no way to finish a month’s work in a day! Three tasks per day are manageable, and in the long run, you can predict how many days you’ll need to complete a certain project. Breaking down three larger tasks into smaller chunks can be useful for time blocking. Time blocking is a method with which to plan out your day, so you know exactly what to do at what time. Sorting out priorities can be done at any stage, and will helps to prevent burnout and its consequences in the first place. With a clear mind we are able to picture a proper plan, thus calming our nerves and preventing burnout.

After planning, it is the execution that we must bear in mind! It is always tricky to start or fix things up with stress. You are not alone. It might be a good idea to invite your friends to complete tasks together. Who doesn’t love a study buddy to oversee each other?

Last but not least, do not hesitate to reach out to your family, friends, or staff at university! There is always help there and a burnt-out mind is just a trap. Now you know the underlying reasons for burnout, and methods to cope with it, you can defeat burnout once and for all!