Identifying
The ratio of freshman to seniors on my swim team is a whopping 2:1, as most swimmers quit before their senior year. It is no surprise that the rate of quitting is so high with up to 20 hours of mandatory practices a week, plus more time spent weightlifting or swimming in meets. Once you add in schoolwork, college prep, extracurriculars, social events, and more, it is a wonder the team has any members at all! Unfortunately, more than just swimmers are affected by this issue. Students are often given overwhelming expectations that seem to outnumber the hours in a day, and such a rigorous schedule can lead to burnout. This article by helpguide.org defines burnout as a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. School, sports, or any stressful area of life can spur on this exhaustion, making burnout a prominent yet ignored problem for overworked students. Herbert Freudenberger, the man who coined the term burnout, defines 5 stages of the issue in his book Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement. Although his ideas focus on occupational burnout, they apply to typical teenage activities as well. The stages include:
Loss of interest in your work
Fatigue and lack of energy
Physical pain or discomfort
Loss of ambition or enthusiasm
A sustained performance dip
Burnout comes with both physical and mental obstacles that cause trouble, but many students may not even know the basic signs of burnout or how to manage them. While they are unaware of the issue, students remain in a state of exhaustion for prolonged periods of time. They may give up on completing school work, underperform in sports, or experience other setbacks without getting the help that they need. Because of this, identifying burnout is the most important step in coping with the issue.
Coping
The key to combating burnout is to manage stress, which can look different for everyone. Some may choose to take a much-needed break, others may need to reframe their mindset concerning their burnout, and others still may reach out to family and friends for support. These methods are effective, but there is usually a lot of guilt and shame surrounding burnout regardless. KC Davis, author and creator of the morally neutral cleaning philosophy, offers advice on the subject; when a task feels overwhelming, you simply need to get it done. Many struggle to get started on a dreaded task, because they feel like they need to complete it all at once. However, Davis shows that you can break an overwhelming task into simplified steps to reduce stress and associated dread. Another option for coping is to go back to the basics. When I experience signs of athletic burnout during swim season, I try to take myself back to the basics. Why did I choose to become a swimmer? How do I swim correctly? These fundamental questions allow me to focus on the reason I chose the sport, which helps to ease stress. These coping mechanisms for burnout are not the only options available. If you find yourself burnt out no matter what you try or you just need some additional guidance, counseling is always a great resource to improve your mental state.
Preventing
Once you find yourself free of burnout—whether you have just gotten over it or have never experienced it before—the next step is to work toward prevention. Many factors can put you at risk for burnout, and a few of those include a perceived lack of control and your workload. A perceived lack of control can lead to perfectionism as you try to regain control of your life. To let go of control, take on an active pursuit of “good enough”. For example, try ranking your to-do list items by level of importance. A prioritized list will allow you to strive for perfection in some situations while giving the minimum effort to the less-important tasks so you do not stretch yourself too thin. Davis repeatedly says in her TikTok videos that “you deserve a functional life”, and she is right. If you avoid tasks because you cannot do them perfectly, find the motivation to do a passing job and move on. Besides combating a perceived lack of control, your workload takes a role in the prevention of burnout. If you have too many things on your plate, simply take some off. You deserve the rest. You must find a balance between your capacity to do work and your actual workload, and understand when you are stretching yourself too thin. You may feel as though quitting is a mark of failure, but sometimes it is important to recognize your limits and quit. Not to say that you should give up whenever things get tough, but assessing your goals and cutting unnecessary activities out of your schedule may improve your burnout by freeing up space for stress relief. It’s okay to slow down and take care of yourself.