Education exhaustion
With spring comes heart-lifting birdsong, hope-filled buds on trees, lovely little blossoms emerging, and (ugh) end-of-term assessments. Lots (and lots) of them.
Yet what a hard time to work! Temperatures rising and skies brightening, while stamina and capacity wane.
For students of all ages, ‘tis the season for summatives and capstones and big tests. It’s… a lot. And at the same, students’ energy for school is petering out. They’ve been at it since September and there’s not much gas left in the tank, not much extra on reserve.
So, how to work when tired? That’s the theme of this month’s newsletter: what to do when your brain is fogged, there’s (a pile of) work to do, there’s not much wiggle room in terms of timeline, and the stakes feel high.
This is born directly out of two recent 1:1 sessions. Two post-secondary students, one early in the journey, the other nearing the end; two distinct programs with completely different demands. The similarity? The bone-deep exhaustion, desire to be “done already,” and confusion over what to do when it feels like it’s virtually impossible to work.
And that’s far from being just a student experience. It happens for us parents and professionals all the time too. Reports, data sets, lessons, grading, projects, proposals, pitches, presentations – on top of family, caregiving, and financial responsibilities. We know this experience – this exhaustion – fully.
What touches me most in these student sessions is the articulated confusion over what to do. In that, I hear open-heartedness, I hear (as always) a place for learning strategies to help, and I hear the friction and tension and push-and-pull that learners live in all the time. The “what should I be doing?” or “how can I decide?” The sense that amidst all of the demands, it’s very hard to know what to do.
So let’s dive into that: what do we do when we have to work but it feels almost impossible due to fatigue?
#1: Reconsider “pushing through”
This is the language that most learners and parents – and humans – hear on the daily. You “just have to push through” when things are hard, uncomfortable, tough.
Yes. And...
What does “push through” mean? Bringing clarity to that kind of phrasing has to be the starting place.
Does it mean staying up late at night? Does it mean beating yourself up with a relentlessly unkind inner voice?
This kind of language is rampant in education. Learners get this all the time: “study harder,” “manage your time better,” “work smarter,” “try more.” What does harder, better, smarter, or more mean?
Just like “push through,” this wording is not just shaming, it’s unclear and undefined. These platitudes – these commands – are empty. They’re generic. And they keep being recycled as if they mean something.
I’m all for tenacity (here’s something I created around academic tenacity and resilience) and I’m all for grit (here’s something I crafted around school grittiness and thriving), but without the “how” – the learning strategies for tenacious, gritty keep-goingness – learners often don’t know what to do.
So the first thing I say to a learner who says to me, “I just did a presentation this morning and had a test this afternoon, and I’m supposed to do some math practice questions for a test in two days, but I’m having a really hard time, I’m just so tired, should I push through?” ... is “no.”
Not “no” as in don’t work. But “no” to participating in the unhelpful idea of “push through.”
What to do instead?
#2: Deadline decision tree
It can be very hard to think when we’re tired.
It can be very hard to think when we’re in the throes of competing demands.
It can be almost impossible to think when we’re overwhelmed.
So, here’s an informal decision tree that I use with my clients:
Does the task that you feel you have to “push through” for have an immediate (within the next 24 hours) deadline?
If YES, you need to keep working (I’ll show you how in a moment), go to 2.
If NO, rest (I’ll explain how in a moment), go to 3.
If the answer was YES, and work needs to happen, it’s essential to shift out of the fog and fatigue, and back into focus to wrap things up and get to bed, so try the following sequence:
Take a 20 minute brisk walk or jog.
Take a 10 minute shower, alternating very warm and cold temperatures, cycling through 3x each, ending on cold.
Get hydrated.
Have a fruit-based snack for quick energy.
(Feel free to throw in a standing power pose, arms up or at hips, all the while channeling ferocity and capacity.)
If the answer was NO, and there’s a little buffer before something needs handing in, it’s time to actively rest:
No TV or screens.
Take a bath or warm shower.
Stretch slowly, maybe with very calming music.
Yawn and sigh a lot.
Read.
Go to bed early, and rise early, ideally catching some sunrise sunlight.
What’s all this about? It’s like an uncorporate cost-benefit analysis. Sometimes we have to work, even if we don’t want to. But often we just sit there and “take a break” by way of scrolling. This won’t help re-energize. And what we need is more energy if we have a deadline.
What’s interesting is that often movement and other practices are considered “subtractive” – as though they take away from our available time. But I firmly believe the opposite. By putting a little more gas in the tank, we can become much more efficient and productive. We get time back.
And if we don’t have to work in this moment, but will have to the next day, then it’s important we set ourselves up for a more energized tomorrow. We can do that by tending thoughtfully to this evening and how we’re giving back to ourselves. Binge-watching, though fun, in this instance of low stamina and high work volume isn’t going to be very helpful. So, tonight’s activities are focused on recuperation to be able to get back to it the next day.
Am I all for work-work-work? Nope.
Am I a productivity-pusher? Nope.
But I’m also a realist, and there are deadlines, and we do have to meet them sometimes. So my work is to help learners, and all humans, feel less alone and more equipped in those very tight times.
Deepest gratitude.
For your incredible feedback, your client referrals, your keynote introductions (I’ve had a few speaking inquiries this week), and your incredible book reviews for “Feel Good Learning” and Google reviews for Awakened Learning. You’re the very very best.
Around here, we’re ad-free, word-of-mouth-only, trust- and relationship-based – trying to do something punk, and good, and radical, and ethical, and helpful for learners and families.
With deep care, and wishing you kind learning, always,
Deena