I wake up in the morning wanting nothing more than to pick up my Nintendo Switch, but I just can’t. Pandemic burnout is real. 

Many of us students are struggling to get back into hobbies and sports that we have lost passion for after the trials and tribulations of the ongoing pandemic.

When you think of the word “burnout” you typically think about being tired of school or your job, however the possibility that the things we love to do most in life could be what’s causing us to drag our feet is surprising and scary at times. 

Whether it be soccer, reading, or a certain video game *cough, cough*, Animal Crossing. It’s been a struggle for all of us to get back into things we lost passion for somewhere along the way during this pandemic. 

Personally, the internal struggle towards forcing myself to pick up my Nintendo Switch, something I had previously done religiously every day for a year, or doing quite literally anything else is really hard. It’s pretty easy to admit that the Switch very rarely wins in this scenario lately.

The occasional burnout is completely normal, healthy even. It enables you to take a break from what you love or to take a step back and reevaluate to see how you can help yourself going forward.

The problem with the burnout we are all currently facing is that it is seemingly never ending with the constant stream of new mandates and possible shutdowns, and due to that it is on a much larger scale. 

Sometimes the best and potentially only cure for burnout is a break. The length of the break should be completely dependent on the person and how deep their current burnout goes.

It’s totally understandable that most people can’t just drop their responsibilities and take time off. In that case it is equally alright to simply make sure to set aside specific time for yourself to relax where no one can interfere. What you do in this time you set aside is up to you. 

The crucial piece of information to remember among all of the chaos we are currently experiencing is this: the storm will end eventually and we have made it this far, as teenagers, so we can undoubtedly take anything else that will be thrown at us.