Life during college is really no life at all sometimes. The vast majority of college students have a job, on top of their numerous classes. They also have to manage personal matters in their lives such as relationships and paying bills to get by. Being a college student can be more stressful than people realize. 

This is where college burnout comes in to play. According to Choosing Therapy online, the definition of burnout is,” …a state of chronic stress or exhaustion that many college students may feel as a result of the many demands they face.” Burnout isn’t just a more extreme form of stress that can take a person down and completely take away their motivation for school. The internet platform Best Colleges explains burnout as, “The term “burnout” is sometimes used loosely to describe feeling stressed and tired; however, it’s actually a bit more severe than that … harder to recognize. Rather than reaching a breaking point or a full collapse, students who are experiencing burnout often continue pushing forward when they’re already in a state of exhaustion.”  

As someone who is on campus quite a bit, I have noticed that the numbers around me are starting to lessen. It seems that every day, another handful of students are missing from my classes. I even have found myself unable to get out of bed to attend my classes in the past few weeks. 

Everything just seems to be building up on top of one another. As badly as I do not want to fail, sometimes I do not have the energy to do anything but just lay there in my bed. It is truly terrifying when you realize that you are becoming a shell of whom you use to be.  

Burnout is becoming a very normal thing to see on college campuses everywhere. It seems that burnout is becoming the newest thing close to mental illness that is taking down students. Although it is not classified as it, burnout seems to be a form of mental illness with the different ways it takes down an individual. With giving traits that are similar to depression and anxiety, burnout is similar to mental illness but still is not classified as one. 

College students already struggle to be a college student. Burnout is draining them before they even get a chance to really live the college experience. Students are not just stressed. Burnout is not just stress, but a shutdown of one’s own self that can cause them to lose all motivation that they once had towards school. 

Burnout is becoming much more common, especially as we move back towards in person learning. So, the next time that you believe someone is being lazy when it comes to school, take the time to check on them. Not everyone knows how to ask for help, but that does not mean you cannot reach out a helping hand to save them from quite literally burning themselves out.