The Middle Path ~ Voices of the Collective
Student Athlete Burnout: Signs, Causes and How to Recover
Fall comes with a lot of changes: a new school year, the start of a new season, new clothes and school supplies, new routines and more!
This can be a lot to navigate, especially for student athletes. All of these new changes and routines can leave you feeling stressed, anxious and eventually... burnt out?
We Can Have It All. But Do We Want It?
We were told we could have it all.
The career. The family. The success. The perfectly managed home. And somehow, we were also supposed to enjoy every second of it.
But what happens when “having it all” becomes the very thing burning us out?
Our latest blog explores the pressure placed on working mothers, the stigma around scaling back, and why choosing a less demanding job, part-time work, or staying home does not mean wasting your potential.
Sometimes burnout doesn’t mean you need to get better at carrying everything.
Sometimes it means you need permission to put something down.
Read the full blog: [link]
When College Burnout Becomes the Expectation
But maybe the pressure to make college the best years of our lives makes it harder to enjoy them. Maybe the need to make the most of every opportunity prevents us from being present for any of them.
The version of college remembered by previous generations - or presented by current students on social media - is not necessarily realistic for most students.
We know people filter the difficult parts out of what they post. We see the parties, friendships, accomplishments, study-abroad trips, and graduation pictures. We rarely see the financial anxiety, failed exams, loneliness, family pressure, uncertainty, or exhaustion happening outside the frame.
College has also changed. The cost of an education can feel like mortgaging decades of your future. Students are expected to graduate with experience, connections, leadership credentials, and a clear plan for what comes next. There is less room to follow your curiosity when you believe every choice has to move you toward a specific target by a specific age.
To be a person, we need time.
When You Feel Stuck in Burnout
You’re going through the motions, taking care of everyone else, doing what needs to be done, but somewhere along the way, you’ve become disconnected from the person underneath all those responsibilities.
And maybe you’re wondering, How did I get here?
Stop Treating Your Needs Like They’re Optional
Any get-help-quick site or Reddit thread will tell you the same thing:
Burnt out? Do these 7 things to get your life back on track.
More often than not, it’s a regurgitation of the same few tips.
Get plenty of sleep! Prioritize your self-care! Say NO! Meditate. Workout. Just don’t, duh.
Don’t get me wrong. These are all great interventions for managing the symptoms of burnout, but they aren’t necessarily addressing the fundamental issues that get us here in the first place.
You can’t meditate your way out of being chronically overworked.
Burnout in Healthcare Part 2: Why Self-Care Isn't Enough
Part 2 of Burnout and Healthcare
In my last blog, I talked about burnout in healthcare and why self-care alone isn’t enough to fix it. Vacations, workouts, massages, and time away can absolutely help, but they don’t change what you’re walking back into when you return to work.
I also talked about boundaries and how important they are in protecting ourselves from burnout. But before we can know what boundaries we need, we have to understand what is actually draining us.
That starts with getting curious.
The Emotional Transition into Motherhood: Understanding Matrescence
No one tells you that motherhood isn't just the birth of a baby.
It's the slow unraveling of the woman you thought you were.
One day you wake up and realize the life that once fit so naturally no longer does.
Your body feels unfamiliar.
Your thoughts are louder.
Time bends in strange ways.
The things that used to matter don't seem to carry the same weight, yet you can't quite grasp what matters now.
Beat the Back-to-School Sleep Struggle: Start Tonight!
The Step-by-Step Back-to-School Sleep Plan
Instead of a shocking wakeup call on the first day of school, start preparing now with these simple steps:
Shift in increments: Move bedtime up by just 10 to 15 minutes every other night. Keep creeping it earlier until you hit the sweet spot needed for a school-day wake-up call.
Ask A Therapist: Romantic Partner Edition
My partner and I try to do what everyone says: we communicate but just end up fighting. It makes me feel hopeless that just trying to talk makes it worse.
Will: First off, I am so appreciative of resilient people who know that change can be good, even if it isn’t good at first. Bad patterns are hard to break on their own so having a set back when getting out of your comfort zone to fix things can be exhausting.
“Communicate” is one of those bits of advice that’s far easier said than done. If you and your partner get too heated during discussion, you could try a few things.
Burnout in Healthcare Part 1: Why Self-Care Isn't Enough
Burnout and healthcare seem to go hand in hand. If you work in healthcare, you've probably heard the same message over and over: Prevent burnout by practicing self-care.
While vacations, workouts, and massages are absolutely helpful, they're often a Band-Aid solution to a much deeper issue.