Picture a candle on its brink. The fierceness of the flame has caused the wax to drip away until there is little left, this is one analogy for burnout.

Twenty-seven percent of teens report actively struggling with burnout with the majority of pressures being able to fit into six categories: figuring out their future, having high achievements, having a good appearance, an active social life, supportive friendships, and being active and supportive in their community, reports Common Sense Media.

Recognizing burnout
Burnout can display itself in many different ways. For some, it may be constantly worrying about the next thing, and being unable to relax. Students may procrastinate more and not enjoy what they once did.

“Burnout is when we are consistently giving too much of ourselves to our job or work or school or any of those things,” Ankeny High School social worker Mary Kate Leister said. “So our ability to feel good about doing that kind of lowers over time.”

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Decision fatigue is one way burnout has shown itself in some students. People may feel that they do not know what to do, so they just do not do it at all. Students may fall into doom scrolling to avoid assignments or activities that strain their mind.

“What it looks like for one person may not be what it looks like for you,” Sampson Family Therapy therapist Stacey Haylett said. “Just because there are symptoms does not mean it is your symptoms. You may feel one way and someone else is doing many things and they’re fine, ‘so what’s wrong with me?’ But there is nothing wrong with you.“

While it may be helpful for some to identify burnout symptoms to compare how they are feeling, it is important to keep in mind that everybody experiences things differently.

“My burnout might look like I become more isolated, or I don’t want to get up and come to work in the morning, or maybe I shut myself in my office during the day,” Leister said. “But somebody else might do more, or prove that they’re worthwhile or that they’ve done something great.”

Overcoming burnout
Referring back to the Common Sense Media study, teens feel pressure from many aspects of their life. Just looking at the pressure students may feel from planning their future, 48 percent of students said adults at school influenced the amount of pressure as well as 44 percent saying they put the pressure on themselves.

Reportedly to relieve some of the pressure students turn to those they trust. Twenty six percent of students surveyed said that close friends decrease the pressure surrounding their future by 26 percent and 18 percent said that parents and family members help to decrease pressure, according to a survey conducted by Common Sense Media.

“[When experiencing burnout] I usually just kind of talk about it a lot, or I’ll just go and turn off my phone and move all my school stuff away and color,” Ankeny High School junior Avery Haubrich said. “I feel like coloring is just a mind number.”

When some students encounter burnout it may feel isolating, and they may think there is nobody there to support them. “Just candid conversations” can aid students, Haylett said.

“Asking kiddos ‘Hey what are you involved in? How’s that going?’ It doesn’t just have to be school counselors who ask those things, it can be anyone,” Haylett said. “Helping kiddos see that they are not alone. Sometimes we have to give our youth permission to choose themselves or learn how to set boundaries.”

Students can also utilize self-reflection asking themselves what is leading them to feel burned out.

“I think it’s helpful when you are able to process things out loud with somebody else and kind of walk through actions or things that you could consider because our brains are so single tracked on us that sometimes we don’t think of all of our options,” Leister said.

Leister and Haylett both emphasized that it is okay to take breaks, or even dedicate a day to do nothing.

“Take a break, rest, get water, sleep if you need to,” Leister said.

At the high school level there are tons of activities students can partake in and experiences they do not want to miss out on, but that does not mean students need to take on everything at once.

“If you’re a kid feeling [burnout] and you feel like it’s because there’s too much on your plate, try and find ways to clean parts of your plate off, or ask for help to get some of that stuff picked up or cleaned up,” Leister said.

Some students may remember it being ingrained into their heads that failure is okay and it shows learning and room for growth, but for some that does not make it much easier.

“[When students feel burned out] I think you learn your limits,” Haylett said. “Nobody ever wants to have to experience a fall but those are the moments we do learn about ourselves and where our limits are and where we need to be honest about ourselves and our capacity because we are only one human and we only have so much energy in a day.”

Causes of burnout
Burnout is a syndrome resulting from workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, according to the World Health Organization. When looking at different students’ lives they have many workplaces or jobs that would all have their own stressors.

For some students school and maintaining high grades is their job, for others it may be performing well at games and meets, or acting their best in the school play, some students may be doing multiple jobs with an actual job on top of it.

Haubrich participates in many school activities, “I love all of them, the musical, tennis, and show choir crew. [But] then it’s hard to balance everything, and then remember about homework and school stresses.”

“We encourage you to do sports. We encourage you to take harder classes. We encourage you to get a job, and then that’s in addition to all of the other social things that you do,” Leister said. “So coming to high school all of a sudden you have all all this stuff that you’re excited to do, or you want to do, or you’re supposed to do, and then your time for yourself becomes smaller and smaller, right?”

Some students may resonate with phrases like “grind culture” or “hustle culture,” the idea that it is normalized and expected to be in constant motion and doing any and all the possible things a person can to prepare themselves for the next step or to be successful in life.

“We wear busyness like a badge of pride,” Haylett said. “A way to combat burnout is to give us space to do nothing and be bored or do something for yourself where there is no outcome, you just do it to enjoy it.”

Students may also feel pressure from friends or family members to participate in more activities.

“If you’re close to the adults in your life, or you have adults in your life that you feel positive toward, you’re likely to say yes to doing things for them, even if you’re not sure you want to, because you have that positive connection and you want to keep it going,” Leister said.

The idea of doing things because others ask them of you does not just stop at family members as well it can apply to friends.

“If all your friends are in it, and they’re like, do it, do it, do it, [students] would feel pressure to join or to just be a part of something,” Haubrich said.

Burnout also may have lasting effects on some students because they may associate a negative feeling with a specific activity.

“I think that in high school, you are in such a cool part of your life where you get to learn about all of these different options and opportunities that you have,” Leister said. “And I think if you experience burnout while experiencing those things, it can make it difficult to want to continue on the same path.”

Burnout can be experienced at many different points in students life, and all students deal with it differently at different severities.

After taking steps like resting, taking a load off your plate, and talking to your support system if the feelings still persist, “that’s a good time to find a mental health professional or to find another adult that you feel comfortable with and say I think I need some more help,” Leister said.