Burnout in High School by Aaliyah Sharma
At some point, it starts to feel like there’s no real break in high school. Even when the weekend comes, your mind is still running through assignments, grades, and upcoming deadlines. You tell yourself it’s just stress, that it’ll get better once this week is over, but then there’s always another project, another test, another reason to stay up late. It’s an endless cycle that slowly drains the excitement out of learning.
Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It builds up quietly, like a slow leak of energy and motivation. At first, you might think you’re just tired, but then you realize you’ve been tired for months. You stop feeling proud of your work and start just trying to get it done. Even the things that used to make you happy like a club, a sport, or a hobby start to feel like more boxes to check off. It’s not laziness; it’s running on empty.
What makes it worse is that burnout is often invisible. On paper, everything looks fine, the grades are good, the activities are there, and the smile is still in the yearbook photo. But inside, it feels like you’re just going through a rollercoaster of emotions. Adults tell us to “enjoy high school,” but it’s hard to enjoy something when you’re constantly exhausted from trying to live up to expectations.
I think part of the problem is how normalized burnout has become. We joke about running on caffeine and getting no sleep, but deep down, most of us are just trying to stay awake. We’re told to aim high, but not taught how to rest without feeling guilty. Sometimes it feels like there’s more pressure to appear “well-rounded” than to actually be okay.
Burnout doesn’t mean someone is weak, it usually means they’ve been trying too hard for too long. Maybe what needs to change isn’t the workload, but the mindset that exhaustion will lead to success. High school shouldn’t feel like survival training. It should be a time to learn, grow, and still have room to breathe.
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