As students, we are given tons of work. Especially at BCIT, a school notorious for being really intense in terms of workload. Most of the programs are only 2 years long, so they have to cram as much useful information and teaching as they can in a relatively short amount of time. As a result, we have to actually do all of that work in that amount of time, which can more often than not lead to…burnout. Burnout is basically an emotional state that you can reach if you’ve been really stressed or overwhelmed for a long period of time. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be from school or academic stuff–it could come from stuff at work, or even friend, family, or relationship struggles. If you’ve ever experienced it (which you probably have, to some degree), you’ll know how hard it is to come out of it.
Right now, for example, I would consider myself in a burnt out state, because I’m wrapping up my practicum for my program, so things have been pretty intense! I definitely feel overworked, and I’ve neglected a lot of my other responsibilities in order to meet my deadlines and get all of my work finished on time. I have basically no groceries or food in my fridge, my room is a total mess, and there are a few emails that I’ve just been putting off writing and sending in favor of writing all these articles. When I find myself feeling burnt out like this, it’s also really hard to engage in hobbies that I normally love. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I often feel a sense of guilt whenever I try to relax or do anything for fun while knowing that I still have work that I could be doing at that moment instead.
Coming out of burnout is pretty difficult, and I don’t have much advice, other than just getting through all the work you need to do, within reason. It is important to make sure that you’re not totally overworking yourself to a point of complete exhaustion, you have to be able to still take care of yourself through it all…I honestly haven’t felt burnt out like this since high school, which was a WHILE ago for me at this point.
If you’re also feeling burnt out like I am, I hope that you can overcome it soon. For me, I’ve got about TWO DAYS left of toiling, then I will finally be set free.