Tips for Keeping Refreshed and Preventing Burnout
Coping with a busy life that is full of upcoming quizzes, mid-term tests, presentations, society duties and part-time jobs, you may have already felt stressed. Apart from handling your academic work and jobs, you should also constantly strengthen your body and heart in a bid to prevent burnout in long run. In face of stress, do you have any effective strategies to remain refreshed?
Here are some suggestions to help you remain relaxed and refreshed:
Balanced Lifestyle
Maintaining regular exercise, balanced lifestyle, regular routines, along with balanced diet and sufficient sleep, are key to eliminating fatigue. It not only helps us stay physically healthy but also improves our mental state, giving us more energy and stabler mood when facing the pressures of daily life and work.
Building Daily Routine
A detailed planning and organized living can help us increase a sense of control, regulate stress and improve efficiency, allowing us more mental space to handle unexpected situations.
Give Yourself a Break
When we become aware of the warning signs of burnout (such as fatigue, sleep difficulties, physical discomfort, decreased work efficiency, etc.), we should allow ourselves to pause and take a break. You can engage in activities you enjoy for stress relief, such as sports, music, cooking, crafts, etc. These not only increase life satisfaction but also help us relax, reducing stress.
Besides, we should schedule short breaks during our study and work, such as taking 5 minutes to stretch and drink water after working for an hour. This allows our body and mind time to recover, and can in return improve our work efficiency.
Treat Yourself with Kindness
Making comparisons is one of the causes of stress. Learning to recognize your own paid effort, understand the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and others, you will learn to empathize and affirm yourself more. Also, you may learn how to set reasonable self-expectations. In this way, self-deprecating, self-blaming, and self-pitying thoughts would naturally fall apart on their own. In addition, you may also remind yourself of one thing that made you feel content or accomplished during the day, right before you go to sleep!
Strengthening Support Network
A good social support network, whether providing emotional or practical support, can make you feel more confident in your university life. You can try to take some time to hang out with your family and friends, and actively share the bits and pieces of your university life. This not only strengthens your emotional connections, but also helps you to vent and regulate any accumulated emotions. Additionally, you can also write down or record inspiring and motivating quotes, images, or articles, and review them from time to time to encourage yourself.
Mastering the aforementioned methods gradually with perseverance does not imply that you will not suffer from pressure forever. Nevertheless, you can handle pressure healthily and efficiently, or even transform it into motivation to promote personal growth.