Summer Break is NOT a Burnout Solution
“Just make it to summer break, Emily,” I used to whisper to myself as I charged into another school week.
What I discovered over time is, when you don’t have a clear plan to recover from burnout like I was experiencing, a school break won’t help much.
At best, that break is a temporary painkiller over the much deeper problem of an unsustainable routine.
Here, I’m sharing why we can’t rely on school breaks as a long-term solution for burnout - Instead, we need a clear, actionable burnout recovery plan.
Why summer break is not a burnout solution:
Summer break only removes school year stressors for a short period of time. Depending on your level of burnout, it can be a shorter amount of time than your nervous system needs to recover.
If no intentional changes are made, the stressors that led you to burn out will be there when you return to school, making you susceptible to burning out quickly again.
A chronically stressed nervous system can stay in a state of hyper-vigilance, even when the stressors are no longer present. In other words, you can experience the symptoms of burnout for days, weeks, or months after the school year ends if no action is taken to intentionally calm the nervous system.
For some, having a less structured routine and unlimited idle time during the summer can be a stressor in itself.
Having all idle time during school break and no rest time during the school year can lead to a consistent cycle of burning out and then exhaustedly crashing.
My goal is to give you a clear, simple plan that can help you heal from chronic stress now, and prevent burnout in the future.
What should you include in your burnout recovery plan? Join us on May 15th for our free series to find out! Sign up here.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What is one step you will take this summer break to intentionally recover from stress and burnout and prevent burnout moving forward?
Quote of the Week
“Many of us have been running all our lives. Practice stopping.”
Just Stressed or Seriously Burned Out?
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