By Kira Rich
Staff Writer
Editorial
By mid-semester, absences are at an all-time high, exhaustion lingers in the air, copious amounts of caffeine replace breakfast, deadlines blur together and a full 8 hours of sleep seems unfathomable. Burnout isn’t limited to just finals week anymore. Instead, it lingers throughout the year.
The majority of college students have to balance more than just their classes, whether it be work, their social life, campus involvement or internships. For some students, day-to-day life starts to feel redundant and mundane, making the need to excel exhausting.
College culture has made sleepless nights and constant movement the standard for success. The lack of a break is proof of these efforts. But unfortunately, the crash is inevitable and leads to crippling exhaustion.
Burnout creeps in when the line between working hard and overworking completely disappears.
It’s not just the academic load but the emotional one too. Students have certain expectations set by their families to live up to — maintaining a lively social life is crucial, as well as creating a solid plan for life after college. Aside from that, many work long hours or even have second jobs just to make ends meet, which limits time for self-care and studying.
Social media adds its own sense of pressure. It puts people in this unspoken competition as peers post their internships, trips, and overall achievements.
It forces people to get inside their own heads and wonder if they’re doing enough. Even if posts aren’t about successes, there’s always another trend or aesthetic to follow.
There’s no point in posting if it doesn’t embody the coziness of fall or completely romanticize your life. It all feeds into the loop of internal comparison, which makes the exhaustion weigh heavier.
Burnout presents itself in different ways. Some simply lack motivation, while others feel numb or detached.
Burnout isn’t always dramatic — sometimes it can be struggling to focus in class or brushing off plans to rest. The issue is how normalized burnout symptoms have become.
Colleges often preach self-care, but in an environment that rewards overwork. Providing access to health services such as free counseling helps, however, only real change can come from shifting the perspective and expectations around productivity.
The belief that rest is earned only after success needs to change. Burnout is the result of overworking for too long with little to no breaks. Rest is a necessity for productivity, and should be treated as such rather than a reward.
