How to get my motivation levels back up when I'm approaching burnout?

Question

How could I get my motivation levels back up as a student?

I'm in physics/ astrophysics with other minors. I love physics so much, so I don't need anyone to ask me whether this is the right choice of majors etc. I've already tried changing majors a few times in the past, but I always wind up crawling back to physics. So, this is what I need to pursue.

I'm in my upper yrs. I had some setbacks due to an auto accident, so my grades went from mostly a's to mostly f's and now I'm back up to mostly a's (hopefully, at least). I did probably fail an introductory biology class last night, which left me crying for a few hours. Biology, the bane of my existence. I just need to take the course to complete my degree program, so I'll have to re-take it. And then I stayed up till midnight last night finishing-up my math homework. I get to school with a sense of coldness in my spine because I was very sick and missed a class, which meant missing a test. I emailed my prof about it and he said that I was fine because the worst test score would be dropped. It's all work-work-work as a student in this program. It's effing lonely work too because I don't really have friends as one of the only girls in the class. My friends are from outside of school. My hobbies are in other areas, and they're usually left neglected during crunch time.

It's just hard to keep the motivation levels up sometimes when it feels like the homework, the tests, and the studying never stop. If I ever have a minute to breathe, I don't, because I know that I'll later wind up pulling an all-nighter when I fall behind in a course and I don't know the content well enough to just waltz into the exam centre the next day.

Help please? I'm not sleeping through my classes or this close dropping out or anything. I'm just this close to burnout and trying to know how to do better. Thx.

Answer 1

This is an issue worth a consultation with a professional. Or perhaps two different professionals.

For more effective use of your time, an academic counsellor might help give you hints about process.

But for the burnout and general feelings you should speak with a mental health professional to see what is behind it and how to overcome it.

Cramming for exams doesn't help either of these.

Most (larger) universities will have one or more offices in which you can seek help on these issues. They exist because your issues are shared with others.

Answer 2

Assuming you are from undergrad (though this answer is probably applicable to anyone anywhere), the most obvious thing is that it sounds like your main problem is that you're working too much.

What's worth understanding is that burnout (and depression) has a biological profile not of nothing happening, but too much is happening. Your mind and body is pushed to its limit and things are starting to break down because of this, so trying to just push yourself through it probably won't work.

A couple of things that are worth keeping in mind:

1. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. If you reached a point where the stress and strain of trying to produce perfect work ask yourself, do you need to be perfect, or just good enough. Can you let your work slip so you have extra effort that you can invest into keeping yourself healthy and strong or to develop better coping mechanisms/support networks. After improving yourself in these ways then you can ask, should I push for perfection again.

2. Schedule time to relax. If you don't naturally schedule time in your week to relax and are just work-work-work, change your priorities. Life-work balance (notice I swapped the order ;) ) is not just some ideal of the average person but a way to keep your body functioning. If you feel guilt at taking time off change your frame of mind and think about this as maintenance for the flesh suit you spend all your time driving around. Keeping your biochemistry in balance is almost as important as making sure you get enough carbohydrates as fuel. This also means scheduling time to make sure you are healthy and let yourself relax when sick.

3. Don't forget friends. We are social creatures, human interactions can help us to relieve stress. Try to make sure you have time to catch up with your old friends, or try to find new friends even though you're the only girl, you said you keep coming back to physics, that's probably something you share with a number of people in the class, a good basis upon which to build new friendships and with whom you can share your particular interest.

4. Change your frame of mind. One thing that can trigger burnouts is if you have too many things where you say "I have to do X" or "I need to do X" rather than "I want to do X". You said biology is the bane of your existence and that you need to do this for your degree. Is there something about biology you could find interesting, even if its not as interesting for you as physics and astrophysics. If you could find that aspect then you might start to be excited to do biology homework/revision, even if you prefer to do physics homework first (or leave it until last as a treat for completing the biology homework). If you struggle to see that, maybe look at "evo-devo" or "molecular shape of you" which cover biology at that level biased towards a physics perspective (the artist got a master's degree in high energy theoretical physics, so I've noticed they are slightly biased towards the way a physicist will approach a problem)

Keep in mind I'm not a professional and this is therefore only friendly advice from the internet. And as Buffy said in his answer there are professionals you can reach out to about this who may be able to give better answers then me. Especially if this actually is coming about from some biochemical or neurological differences/atypicalities where "just do X" amounts to no more than wishful thinking.