The stress has been piling up topped with a bunch of school works and drizzled with procrastination, in short, the perfect recipe for disaster. But one day you start to realize that you’ve been spending so much time on your bed doing nothing — and despite all the pep talk you tell yourself — you just can’t seem to find the energy to do all the things you need to do. And even the things that you used to love doing don’t make sense anymore. What you’re feeling our dear katambays is what we call burnout.

But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), burnout is not a medical condition but an occupational phenomenon. In fact, in 2019 burnout was included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), where it was described as one of the “factors influencing health status or contact with health services but not classed as illnesses or health conditions”. The ICD-11 further described this condition as “syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.

Burnout is a negative state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive stress and the inability to cope with it. Especially now, with the pandemic and all the online classes we have to endure during this lockdown, burnout became a common condition for many students and teachers all over the country. In a survey conducted by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) among 6,731 public school educators nationwide more than 70 percent of teacher-respondents deem the distance learning workload as “negatively impacting on their physical and mental health”. With about 10 percent admitting to “already falling ill due to the problems with distance learning and their burdensome duties.”

With all that being said, two questions now come to our minds. “How do you avoid burnout?” and “How do you solve burnout?”.

HOW TO AVOID BURNOUT

Make Time

Regardless of how busy you are, always make sure to sprinkle your calendar with things that you love doing. This gives you extra motivation to finish all your school works and gives you something to look forward to.

Manage your Time

Be the master of your own schedule. Be ahead of your deadlines and make sure you are not procrastinating. Not only will it make your life a lot easier but it will also help you develop a more positive relationship with your studies and work.

Pause and Take a Step Back

Stop what you are doing and evaluate your situation. Ask yourself, are you sure you have chosen the right program? Are you in a healthy environment? Are you happy with where you are right now? Knowing these things will give you the motivation and inspiration to finish all your task.

HOW TO SOLVE BURNOUT

Acknowledge the Problem

Burnout might seem like a simple struggle but you will never know the extent of it until you acknowledge that you have a problem. Stress will just continue to pill up if you keep on pushing yourself forward and not asking for help.

Ask for Help

There is nothing wrong with asking for help, especially if your mental health is on the line. You might need to speak to a professional to find the root cause of your dilemma. You can also talk to your friends and family, who knows a simple conversation might make a difference.

Make Important Changes

Burnout, more often than not, is caused by our lifestyle. So, take that first step and change the things that are causing you to burn out. Always take time to breathe and just enjoy life.