The spring semester is coming to an end in a few weeks. I personally feel papered out. Even picking a subject for a paper has become a daunting task. I have even gone so far as to register for statistics in the fall semester to get out of doing papers. I totally don’t like statistics, but there are no papers for statistics. Is there a possibility that I am burnt out?
I’ve thought for a while about why I feel burnt out with papers and here’s what I’ve come up with:
It’s not Age or My Part-time Status.
The part-time route is extending my time in school, but really, going full-time would mean even more papers in a shorter period of time. So part-time does not appear to be the problem. In actuality, part-time is easier.
I thought about age and I’m not quite leaning toward that being the issue. Being an older student does give me more experience in life. Having more experience would give me a larger base from which to draw ideas. Unless, I have used up most of the storage space in my brain and things are slowing down. Is there such a thing as using up brain storage? Hmm, something to ponder over the summer.
Procrastination Might Be the Reason.
Procrastination, postponing, or delaying needlessly could be the problem. Maybe the challenge of working under pressure motivates me? However, procrastinating could produce stress and guilt, which could produce even more procrastination.
Freud says procrastination involves the pleasure principle. This involves putting off a stressful task to a later date and finding enjoyment in doing this. This would make sense.
After thinking about this, it does appear that Freud is partially right. I am not working at a job at the moment, so I don’t procrastinate for lack of time. I would prefer walking the dog or playing computer games to writing a paper. It has even gone so far that I prefer cleaning the house to writing a paper. And I hate cleaning.
When I actually write a paper under pressure, it causes anxiety and unnecessary stress. That could be the reason I can’t pick a topic or think clearly. The paper, however, does need to be done, so I think it is the deadline that motivates me and the horrors I would personally experience by not turning in a paper on time. This would be totally unacceptable to me, not to mention embarrassing and also would have a really bad effect on my grades.
With the deadline approaching, I appear to force myself to focus and think more clearly and do get the papers done and turned in on time, and do get a decent grade on them.
Stephanie Buckley, another blogger for the World Campus wrote a blog on Burn-out and Preventing Overload, it has some really good tips and tells her personal experience with burn-out.
The one tip that I learned early on that she mentions is taking the summer off. I used to take summer courses and realized that it was too much. I needed a break to do other things like take a vacation and basically just chill out.
How do you deal with feeling burnt-out with papers?
Have a great summer!
