While most college students have their fair share of stressors, these can compound over time. By senior year, it’s not unusual to have job and fellowship applications on top of extracurriculars, volunteering, work, classes, and personal time.
Right now, I’m feeling burnout from college in my final year (Senioritis), which coincides with an anxious anticipation for the future. Tomorrow, I have an all-day onsite interview. Beforehand, I needed to make sure I could be off-campus for that long without missing anything. Sometimes I have last-minute meetings or must make time for responsibilities I wasn’t expecting.
Here's what I'm doing to help ease Senioritis.
Managing My Calendar and Walking: It’s important that I don’t have back-to-back events all day all the time. I keep these to a minimum. If I do have a day when I'm extremely busy, I make sure there's time in the evening to unwind. In an earlier post, “A Good Walk,” I talk about taking time to protect my mental health by going on walks. It’s still my favorite thing to do. I usually walk around Tappan Square or around the block where my dorm is located. I still listen to music and tend to go briskly because, being from Chicago, I learned to keep a quick pace when commuting to and from high school. No room for slow walkers in the Red and Blue line train stations.
Time to Myself: As someone who is more introverted, I also get drained easily around a lot of other people. After a few hours at a big event, I frequently start to tire and become a bit restless, so I’ve made a small nook underneath my bed with a large pillow and a rug where I can retire and hide away for awhile afterward. Sometimes, I also simply lie in bed when I’m tired. It’s really close to a bright light so I’ll change location to the nook underneath or turn off the lights in my room if my eyes start to hurt.
Vitamins and Minerals: I’ve had low Vitamin D levels for several years, so I recently started taking daily gummies and have begun feeling a bit more lively. It could also be the placebo effect (not totally sure yet). Periodically my iron levels get low as well, so meat is a priority in most of my meals. I also happen to love it. Ever since I was in a high chair, I could tell a tofu hotdog from a real one. I (mostly) don't joke around when it comes to consuming meat. My love for it could be a biological thing. A need for iron might trigger my cravings for meat. Who knows? (Probably a STEM major.) But I digress, medium rare steak is my favorite vehicle for iron consumption! Beef is great too.
Therapy and Mentorship: I have been going to therapy for several years and it’s a good place to vent. Sometimes stuff gets bottled up internally and it’s like the cork is popped during each session. This year, I've had trouble fitting it into my schedule, and I'm definitely feeling it internally. I'll be continuing as soon as I can. Over the summer, I also rejoined an online group called Navigating Adoption, but this time as a mentee. I used to be a mentor and realized that it might be nice to be mentored too. So this year, I have a mentor! I really enjoy getting to chat and being able to ask questions about the future. It’s reassuring and always brings a smile to my face.
So there you have it! This is how I'm dealing with Senioritis.
To all the high school seniors out there: I know what it’s like to feel burnt out. In fact, I wrote a piece in The Review about it (it’s also a critique of the PAL program). I’ve had Senioritis twice, both in high school and college. It’s more normal than you think it is. But I take it day by day and remind myself, “You’ve got this!” So I want to remind you too, you’ve got this! Finally, good luck and… happy Halloween!
