The myth of 'doing enough'

On paper, she’s exactly what colleges encourage: involved, driven and magically everywhere at once. But beneath the packed schedule and ever-growing list of responsibilities is a persistent pressure — the sense that if she’s not doing what she can (and more), she’s falling behind. 

Junior Melissa Avelino dos Santos, a full-time student double-majoring in data science and journalism, said the expectation to constantly strive for academic approval isn’t just external: it’s internalized. Leadership roles, clubs, council meetings and building a resume all feel necessary to keep up with her peers and stand out to professors or future employers.

As she stretches herself thinner to meet those expectations, she admits it rarely feels worth it.

“Every time I’m tired or I don’t want to do something, I feel like I’m just so lazy,” she said. “I think about how everyone else is probably studying right now, and I should be too.”

The belief that you aren’t doing enough is not an uncommon experience for college students. As journalism and English professor Janet Blank-Libra sees it, there is a “busyness culture” at Augustana that may be what leads students to feel this way. 

“That notion of having to constantly be busy beats itself, and pretty soon, people are overwhelmed,” Blank Libra said. “Then when you get a whole lot of overwhelmed people in one space, I don’t think it’s good.” 

When talking to her peers, Avelino dos Santos recognizes her tendency to compare her work to others — a common occurrence for many students. 

While listening to her friends' talk about their packed schedules, she feels as if she doesn’t have the right to complain. Despite knowing that her friends will support her regardless of who has the longer list of responsibilities, getting over her own mental blocks is where she tends to get stuck. 

Maggie Hanson, a licensed counselor at Sioux Falls Psychological Services (an organization offered through Augustana for students), believes that burnout can be experienced for a multitude of reasons. 

“Burnout is more of a long-term experience of the exposure of those stressors,” Hanson said. 

If not handled correctly, Hanson warned, there’s a high risk of burnout leading to struggles of anxiety and depression amongst students, although the correlation between burnout and mental illnesses has long been up for debate.

According to a study in Psychology Research and Behavioral Management, symptoms of burnout can resemble those of depression. However, burnout is typically situation-specific — particularly tied to work environments — whereas mental health disorders like depression can persist regardless of changes in workplace. 

For Hanson, being able to recognize the emotional effects of one’s daily routine is crucial to preventing or catching up with burnout. Starting with simple questions such as “Am I tired?” serves as a platform to recognize perhaps a larger issue.

“How much am I tired? When am I tired? Do I notice any patterns or frequency of that?” Hanson said. “For a lack of better words, am I experiencing the Sunday Scaries every day of the week?”

The feeling of dread before starting and after ending each day is a key indicator that you should sit yourself down and reevaluate your priorities, Hanson believes. 

Such patterns may appear in quiet and easily overlooked ways.

“I know when I can’t sit and just do anything, that is when I’m burnt out,” Avelino dos Santos said, adding that having to plan out when she’ll have time to do essential tasks such as eating or showering can become “completely exhausting.”

To help manage the feeling of burnout, Hanson stresses the importance of self-care. 

And no, self-care doesn’t mean taking a $60 bath with your influencer’s favorite products and calling it good. In this context, self-care should be focusing on and ensuring you have the basic needs of being. 

Referring to Maslow's hierarchy of needs framework , there are a set of questions Hanson recommends asking oneself to serve as a “check-in” of where to start with self-care.

“Have I gone outside? Am I eating? Am I drinking? Am I getting enough sleep at night? How am I actually taking care of myself as a human,” she said. “I think therapy can be a great accountability source for things like that.”

Hanson also emphasizes having a social support system to combat her opinion that “burnout is absolutely influenced by, or maybe isolated by, being alone.” 

For students like Avelino dos Santos, the importance of self-care and support is fundamental to help maintain their well-being — Avelino dos Santos finds restoration through dedicating at least one day to hanging out with friends, calling her mom, and ordering her favorite food. 

“It’s important for me to have this time,” Avelino dos Santos said. “If I want to be productive I need to have this time to be ready to face everything that I need to do.” 

Though burnout can feel individualistic, students should remember their feelings are valid, no matter how busy or involved they are. Questioning the pressure to always be “on” in academics may open doors to a better way of living for many students. 

For Augustana students in specific, the opportunity of community should not be ignored. Resources and support available on campus will always be there, waiting for you to take advantage of them. 

“You’re not alone, but you also have to make the choice to show up for yourself, and that can be really difficult too,” Hanson said.