Burnout: The Importance of Rest

Naomi Kim | Writer

Photo Credit: Sofia Alejandra on Pexels

Burnout. Merriam-Webster defines it as, “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration,” and it’s a word that has gained popularity in this era of mental health awareness. 

Even if you’ve never heard of it before, chances are that you’ve experienced it. The truth is, it can happen to anyone, from a highschool student to a working adult. The most common type of burnout is from overworking yourself, something many students tend to do.

Many people put off the idea of rest until their work is finished for numerous reasons, whether it’s because they’ve planned out their schedule that way or they just want to get it out of the way, but when working for long stretches of time, people don’t realize how necessary rest is. Similar to how the body will fail if you work past your limits for too long, your brain will shut down if you don’t give it time to recover. 

This is what burnout is. You’re just constantly tired and lacking the motivation to do anything despite knowing you have to, and forcing yourself to work leaves you feeling worse than you did before. 

It’s midterm season with final exam season approaching much faster than we’d like, which is why we need to remind ourselves that resting doesn’t equate to wasting time. It’s only preparing ourselves for the next big task. After all, ending strong is the goal here.