Student Blog: Seizing the Rest of the Semester

Semester is almost over! Everybody cheer! In all seriousness though, this has been a great semester. I transferred at the beginning of the semester, so a lot has changed within the past few months for me. I am super lucky to be able to say that I love my school and I have adjusted great. But despite my love for my school, I have dealt with some burnout. 

Once the novelty of the new semester wears off and the assignments start piling up, it can be difficult to not become discouraged and burnt out. Dragging myself out of bed to go to the library isn’t always the most fun. I’ve dealt with burnout in a few ways: 

I changed up where I study. If I sit in the same spot in the library every. Single. Day. I would start to feel a little crazy. Especially since I am still exploring the UCF campus, I try to switch up where I'm sitting to kinda give myself a fresh mind when studying. At my old school, I found myself doing the same thing every day. Same spot in the library, same Starbucks order while studying. It got a little stale. 

Another way I deal with burnout is my playlists. I’ve found myself strictly listening to musical theatre while I do homework. For whatever reason it keeps me so focused. I wrote my Introduction to the Entertainment Industry final paper while listening to the Merrily We Roll Along and The Great Gatsby soundtracks. Finding something that you can listen to that gets the creative juices flowing is super helpful. 

I give myself breaks!! Sitting with my computer open pretending to do my assignment while just scrolling TikTok is not productive. I have a habit of doing this. Giving myself a real break (rather than scrolling my phone with my computer open) can be very helpful. Whether it’s taking a break to go to the gym, or taking a nap for an hour, or watching an episode of a tv show, sometimes I just need to close my laptop and start fresh after a break.  

But as difficult as it can be, I’m super proud of myself for getting through this semester. I loved my classes and I’m super excited for next semester!!