How to Deal with Burnout

By Bella Heaney

Burnout can be described as a physical/emotional exhaustion of an area that was previously a big part of your life. A loss of passion may be felt by an individual with burnout. Anyone can get burnout even professional athletes and Olympians, but what should you know if you ever have burn out?

Signs of burnout

Identifying signs of burnout is important to do. Signs are present throughout different parts of your life. Signs of burnout include: chronic muscle and joint pain, weight loss, loss of appetite, increased resting heart rate, decreased sports performance, fatigue, lack of enthusiasm, decreased academic performance, sleep issues.

Unhealthy athletic atmosphere and participation can increase the chances of burnout. Families, coaches, and athletes should be sure to do their part to keep the athlete’s athletics healthy. Signs that the athletics are unhealthy for the athlete include: the athlete isn’t having fun playing the sport anymore, sports are dominating the athlete and potentially the entire family’s life, sports are the only topic at home and/or the table, awards are based off of athletic performance, winning is more important than having fun, and if you’re 16 and haven’t gotten your period, and young athletes only playing one sport.

How to deal with burnout

Now that you’ve identified the symptoms of burnout it’s time to fight back against burnout! Try going down to practicing one day a week for a few weeks if possible and every few weeks add an extra day until you get back to the amount of days you were at. Try to compete only once a month if possible to fight burnout.

Here are some ways SOW members responded:

Rebecca: “How I deal with burnout is finding what’s causing it. Is it cutting too much weight? School stressed? Family issue? Then I determine how to balance my workload to avoid getting back in that position and adjust my mindset.”

Jasmine: “Make sure you’re taking breaks as well, hyper productivity is normalized but shouldn’t be. Don’t feel guilty about not working all the time”.

Samantha: “focus on self-care, if you’re doing too much, you won’t develop of get better as a wrestler”

Katie: “Focus on training and envision your matches”

Belladonna: “So I take a mental/self care day every week to prevent burnout. Every Wednesday I take a shower that will be a little longer to focus on myself. I also let myself just relax, go to the gym, read paint, do whatever makes me relax and happy. That’s also what I do if I feel myself going into a burnout. Take a day off maybe from training and just relax, go to bed early or anything else.”

Zoey: “To avoid burnout I’d say remembering your purpose of why you are working so hard and thinking about how you will feel when you accomplish your goals will keep you going”

Love: “To avoid burnout, I remind myself of what I’m working towards (whether it be a large tournament, or a smaller, personal goal) and how far I’ve come. I also think about the people I’ve been able to meet and the experiences I’ve been able to have through wrestling, and that’s usually enough to keep me going. Otherwise, if there is some external pressure like academics, friends, family issues, etc. I speak up for myself if I need help and I figure out a way to keep me motivated.”