Let's Talk Burnout

Recently, most of my time has been spent studying for the LSAT. In all honesty, it kind of consumed my life. I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself, especially when it comes to school work, and going to law school is no exception (so glad I'm a perfectionist!). I think the biggest reason that I put so much pressure on myself in regards to law school and the LSAT is the availability of scholarships based on LSAT scores and where I would be able to go to school. I know that the LSAT isn't the only determining factor in admitting students, but I couldn't get that worry out of my head.

I devoted a TON of time to studying; right after I moved back home and before I started my job, studying was my main way to pass the time. I made myself a schedule and stuck to it as closely as possible. I took at least 20 practice tests and spent hours using the free Khan Academy LSAT prep offered through LSAC.

Related: My LSAT Study Schedule

I had people tell me that it was great that I was so into my studying, and, at first, it was. I felt more and more confident in my ability to get a good score on the actual test. Naturally, that made me think that the more I studied, the better I would do. This was an okay thought in the moment, but it led to burnout in the long-run.

"Burnout" is defined as physical or mental collapse caused by being overworked or stress. It's become pretty common among students, and it's not just that normal "ugh I don't want to do this assignment" feeling that sometimes crops up. It's an absolute, an "I literally can't force myself to do this because I am so exhausted" feeling that refuses to go away.

After studying like a crazy woman for weeks on end, the stress and work caught up to me. I would sit at my desk and found it physically exhausting to just click the correct answers on my practice sets. I'd lay around in bed for longer than I usually would because I didn't have the energy to start studying again.

At first, I thought it had something to do with my mental health. One of the lovely things about depression, at least in my case, is that I tend to slip into little depressive slumps on occasion, but this didn't turn out to be the case (thank goodness).

I worked myself so hard that I got hit by a very crazy cold and pretty much couldn't do anything for about a week. As much as it sucked at the time, it was actually a miracle in disguise. I was forced to relax and not spend time studying. After my cold went away, I found myself renewed and ready to start studying again.

But I took a new approach. I gave myself more breaks. I spent less time staring at my computer and at my preptest books. I allowed myself to have a bit more of a social life. And this all helped more than I could have imagined.

Dealing with burnout is tough, but my experience with it taught me a valuable lesson. If you came to this blog post for advice, here's what I have to say: give yourself breaks. Allow yourself to make mistakes and not be perfect.

How do you deal with burnout?

xoxo,

Rachel