Dealing with School Burn-out
As high school seems to be a neverending journey of constant homework, tests, and projects, I find myself burn-out ever so often. Living in South Korea, the pressures of maintaining perfect grades take a toll on everyone’s mental health, including mine. School, in general, starts to feel like a dreading task that's waiting to swallow you whole. Every year my burn-out seems to get worse and worse. Slowly, as the school year comes to an end I find myself lazy, unmotivated, and indifferent to anything school-related.
Suddenly I'm sitting on my bed at 4 am wondering what happened to all my A’s and A+s I was able to achieve in August. I start wondering, “What's wrong with me? What happened to all my grades?”
Unfortunately, schools don't do much about burnout. Every so often you’ll hear counselors say “Take a deep breath!” Or maybe you’ll have an assembly and watch a 5-minute video about meditation and mental health, but really, there's no guidance on how to deal with burnt-out. However, after years of dealing with burnout, I’ve managed and discovered efficient ways to deal with burnout in healthy ways. As someone who constantly deals with the tiring pattern of burning out, I’m here to provide healthy ways to deal with burnout.
1. Accept the burn-out
Instead of getting mad and frustrated at yourself, accept that you are burnt out at the moment. After working hard for weeks and months, it’s natural to feel unmotivated and burnt out and it doesn’t make you less of a person because you are. Oftentimes, I’ve struggled with accepting the fact that I’m burnt out. As I see my grades and social life slipping away, I begin to feel frustrated with myself. However, over time I’ve come to the realization that it’s normal to feel burnt out after months and weeks of keeping up with the fast-paced nature of the school.
2. Remind yourself that burnout is universal
When you’re burnt out while others aren’t, there's a big chance you’ll feel lonely and hopeless. For me, when I’m burnt out but my friends aren’t I sometimes forget that everyone experiences burnout. However, the reality is that almost everyone experiences the cycle of burnout, just at different times. When you feel like you’re the only person burnt out at the moment, remind yourself that burnout is universal and almost everyone experiences it.
3. Ask for help
If you’re like me, you hate asking for help. It feels uncomfortable and you feel vulnerable. However, if you're falling behind, it’s okay to ask for help. Many times, when I’m burnt out I lose motivation to turn in things on time or do homework on a daily basis. Surprisingly, many teachers are understanding. When I can’t turn in an assignment or a project time, I make sure to email my teachers explaining how I feel and ask for extra time. Many times they are understanding. There's nothing wrong with asking for extra assistance or time if you feel unmotivated or burnt out.