Do you feel as if you’ve lost your academic drive? Are you finding yourself in a struggle to perform tasks that you normally find easy to manage? Read on for some signs of burnout in high school and discover how to get over burnout from school.
What is high school burnout?
High school burnout is a psychological syndrome characterized by lethargic energy toward any academic activity. Often, this negative mental reaction impairs your capacity to perform the simplest tasks and brings about a lack of motivation and endless exhaustion.
This state often dooms you to low academic engagement, resulting in a negative deviation of your scores.
Symptoms of an academic burnout
Like all psychological conditions, mental burnout manifests itself gradually and might thus escape your notice until it becomes unbearable. Some of the tell-tale signs of academic burnout include:
- Exhaustion
When suffering burnout in high school you may feel tired regardless of the amount of rest you get. This tiredness is best defined when addressing your academics as opposed to other activities. In extreme cases, you may suffer headaches or stress if you try to study.
- Feelings of hopelessness
The lack of motivation is a common sign of struggle. However, burnout may cause you to feel lethargic and hopeless for no apparent reason. When in this state, you tend to downplay your success and magnify your failures, reducing your productivity.
- Neglecting responsibility
A common characteristic of academic burnout is the failure to commit to your obligations regardless of the repercussions. Often, you may find yourself prioritizing sleep and other activities at the expense of your classes and assignments.
You may also feel bored of activities that previously gave you joy, slowly detaching from your academic duties.
How to prevent a high school burnout
Like all ailments, prevention is better than curing high school burnout. The tips in this section should come in handy to prevent exhaustion, ensuring optimal performance:
- Engage in activities that bring you joy
Obsessing about academics has its downsides. After spending a substantial amount of time glued to books and ruminating on the negative scores, you may find yourself working so hard and thus, wearing your brain out.
We recommend that you find an activity to partake in daily, letting off steam and ensuring quality sleep. This will allow you to approach each day with fresh energy, ensuring a decent score without various negative repercussions.
- Get help
Sometimes, you may have a ton of assignments that encroach on your free time. Instead of burying yourself in these assignments, consider delegating some portions to meet deadlines without compromising your mental well-being.
For this, you could reach out to expert tutors or consult your friends to chip in on tasks such as editing and proofreading.
- Set achievable goals
The pressure we exert on ourselves is often our undoing. When you set over-ambitious goals, you may feel the pressure to go an extra mile, often forfeiting essential breaks.
This may extend to surpassing your sleeping time, a downward spiral bound to result in mental burnout after a short duration.
- Avoid harsh comparisons
The key to life and education is in appreciating your performance and setting goals for yourself as opposed to gauging your success by the performance of peers. Comparisons may often set a fleeting target that you can barely achieve, fostering hopelessness regardless of your improvement.
We thus suggest that you set targets and celebrate your success when you meet your goals. Also, acknowledge your limits and seek the necessary help instead of beating yourself up over your failures.
How to recover from high school burnout
There’s no need to lose hope if you are caught in a rut and can’t bring yourself to perform the smallest academic tasks. Here is how to deal with school burnout and restore your optimal performance.
- Seek help
Since academic burnout is a psychological syndrome, it could help to see a therapist. These experts will diagnose your predicament and guide you towards recuperation. They may also help you determine if you are simply suffering from burnout or a more serious issue.
- Let go of some responsibilities
After pushing yourself so much, you may feel overwhelmed and incapable of the least commitments. To recover, cut off any obligations that are burdening you and leave yourself to handle the few activities you can do with ease.
You could start by identifying your sources of burnout and delegating these tasks until a time when you are motivated to resume the activities.
- Recognize your achievements
A life spent ruminating on failures is a life filled with misery. Celebrating your achievements helps you to appreciate your abilities and thus leads to healing over time.
Final take
High school burnout is an overbearing syndrome many students suffer throughout their studies. We hope that this guide comes in handy to help you overcome and avoid mental exhaustion. Feel free to reach out to us for help if you have more activities that you can wrap your finger around. We will guide you towards academic success without compromising your mental wellness.
