Overscheduling & Burnout

One of my favorite feelings is feeling organized. I love feeling like my days are planned and organized… but what does OVERscheduling look like? Overscheduling happens when we book our days FULL leaving zero time for ourselves. It’s when we get up at 5, go to school early for baseball practice, do school for 7 hours, stay after school for club meetings, practices, and games until 8pm, go home to do homework, go to bed, and then do the same thing the next day. It’s when we say “Yes” to everything else going on in our lives that we become unable to say “Yes” to ourselves. 

In a culture where the motto is “Go, go, go,” it can be easy to fall into the trap of overscheduling. And unfortunately, too much overscheduling is a slippery slope to the trap of burnout, a psychological syndrome attached to prolonged stress. Signs of burnout include feeling tired and drained, having a sense of failure and doubt, and having a loss of motivation. And unfortunately, burnout is becoming more and more common in students, because students’ schedules are becoming increasingly more busy. 

The good news is, overscheduling and burnout can be preventable! YOU have the power to steer clear of this trap by saying “No” to overscheduling and “Yes” to allowing the freedom to give yourself time. Maybe that means only attending after school club meetings twice a week instead of four times a week. Maybe that means saying “No” to the company dinner so that you can enjoy dinner with your family. Whatever it looks like for you, you hold that power, and that power is important. 

 

By: Lexi Breunig