Well, we are officially in the 13th week of the semester. We are feeling drained and burnt out, but we know that you probably are too.

The good news is we are not alone, and a new study was recently released that sheds light on the situation.

According to The New York Post, the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in Italy recently released their findings on a subject they call “ego depletion.” What they found was that when we are tasked with several tough decisions in a short time, “it wears down the parts of the brain responsible for self-control,” leading to a change in behavior.

There is plenty going on this time of year that requires our decision-making faculties, and we feel the resulting burnout from their use, too.

It feels like the walls are closing in on a daily basis. College students can certainly expect to be busy, but when that daily grind becomes a seven-day-a-week grind, it’s problematic.

This is to say nothing of the daily internal stresses — the feeling of being behind on work, having to go to your job when you need to be working on school projects, the question of what you plan to do when you graduate.

Common stress relief tactics, like staying engaged in your social life, never seem more out of reach than they do at this time of year, when the academic workload reaches a crescendo.

It is frightening, too. We get that. There is a fight-or-flight response that benefits us by giving us that extra push that we may need, but it is also not the kind of thing that is easy to switch off. To stop moving may be to lose all momentum and crumble to pieces. It can be a frightening feeling.

Even if you are lucky enough to not be overloaded, you may still feel victim to those around you that are. Walking on eggshells is a draining task and fearing the wrath of over-burdened peers everywhere you go is sure to dampen your spirit.

It is important to not overextend yourself. Fear of missing out is another stressor, after all. It is critical that you accept what can and cannot control within your schedule and not dwell on missing things. Instead, focus on what is important to you.

And these are not just feelings that plague members of the student body. Faculty members often are in the trenches alongside us, and we see you. Both at home for us in the Communications, Journalism and Media department and across campus, we know so many of you are overworked and often underappreciated. You are our leaders in academia, but we are all peers when it comes to the self-care and mentally healthy lives we deserve.

Anything worth doing is hard. That is a fundamental truth. As the German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said: “If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” Nietzche follows this up with the approximation that this shows one what they are made of.

The exhaustion we feel is the result of the labor involved in our development. It is difficult, but it is formative, and we will be better off for it. We find common cause with rundown, the tired and the stressed. We are on this journey with you and will hold our heads high with you when we get through this. All that is left is left is to buckle up and finish this homestretch. 

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