Recently I burnt out. Basically I came to a time in the semester where I was doing too much, and this meant that I got overly tired and stopped working properly. It’s a really weird thing to happen, but my mind stopped running at full speed, and went into conserve energy mode. Thankfully now that time is over, and I’m feeling a lot better.
After this time I have been thinking (surprise) about why it happened, and how I can avoid burnout in the future, here are some thoughts.
- As a Uni student, you life is broken up into many different areas, including Uni study, church, social life, part time work, Christian commitments at Uni etc… And these areas all have their seasons of business. It is vital to plan ahead for these seasons of business, especially if they coincide (this happened to me).
- It is also ok to not be busy all the time. As a Uni student you will be very busy at times, but also you have lots of time off. It is ok to take that time off and not to overload yourself all the time. Although having said that, planning a year out ahead of time is very useful, and in those months of holidays, try doing one off things that don’t take time from you in the rest of the year (e.g. lead on a CRU camp).
- God is good, and he can use us even in our weakness. Some of the times when I can see God working in my life have been the times when I have been most down. God is good.
- Prayer is awesome. God listens and answers our prayers, and we have such a privilege to be able to personally communicate with the creator of the universe!
Well, that’s it for now, and look forward to more posts from me in the upcoming weeks, the will come…
UPDATE: Check out this awesome burnout fail from failblog. Very appropriate.
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Interesting thoughts. I think I like to keep telling myself that I haven’t burnt out, because burning out seems to suggest you somehow lost control of your life. But then God is in control, so that’s a very me-centred thing to think.
Hmmm.
I think it’s also useful to keep an eye out for burnout in others so that you can support them and pray for them, which then also makes you aware of your own possible burnout.
sorry to hear of the burnage… glad you’re bouncing back!
catch you soon bro
@Rich To true that God is in control, I don’t think admitting that you’ve lost control is a bad thing, it happens to a lot of people. I think it is good to admit it and learn from mistakes that you’ve made, so that you can hopefully avoid it in the future. (By you, I don’t mean you personally, but everyone)
Definitely good to be praying for others who are struggling. That definitely helped me!
@Dave Thanks mate