It’s no secret that things have changed during the third lockdown: maybe we’re just fed up with being stuck inside or maybe we miss the way things used to be. But why has everyone suddenly lost all motivation to do any work, or to even get out of bed? We’ve been through online learning before, so why is it suddenly affecting us so drastically?
Phoebe-Rose Martin, a student from St. Philomena’s, has said that this lockdown has affected her in ways that the other two didn’t: she found herself spending her days mindlessly scrolling through social media instead of committing to the work she knows is important for her A-levels. She also found herself unable to connect with friends and noted that she wasn’t reaching out and talking to them as much as she usually would.
But it’s not just her: everyone I know is feeling this way. It has been a huge struggle to get motivated to do any work and eventually, all the days merge together. We wake up, log on to school, sit and passively listen to our teachers over a screen whilst engaging in something else, get stressed about the work we haven’t done and then go to bed. Then do the exact same thing for the rest of the week. For some, it’s a relief that we’re going back into school soon, but for others, the piles of overdue work are causing unnecessary stress, and for these people, the thought of going back to school causes extreme anxiety. We shouldn’t live in a society where people are afraid to go back to school just because they have been struggling in the months leading up to it.
But why is everyone struggling so much with getting motivated during this lockdown? Cast your mind back to the lockdown one, where we all swore to exercise daily or learn a new skill, or turn our lives around in some way. We all had sudden bursts of energy to do things we’d have had the chance to do before, but now we sit indoors, looking at our phones, just hoping for something mildly interesting to happen. We feel ‘burnt out’ despite the fact that we haven’t done anything that would exhaust us. However, it may be that this feeling is actually to do with stress, rather than just being busy. "Burnout is used to describe what happens when you are stressed or under pressure for a long time," explains Mental Health Adviser, Fatmata Kamara. "Although a certain amount of stress can be useful and make us productive, when your stress levels become unmanageable you can become overwhelmed". This overwhelming feeling may be what leaves you struggling to find motivation.
All of these added pressures due to Covid-19 can leave us feeling anxious, stressed and emotionally exhausted and you may be working longer hours, as well as being disconnected from loved ones. Working from home means a different setup from what we’re used to, meaning it can be tempting to work longer hours, as we don’t have our usual after-school commute. There's also a lack of differentiation between work and relaxation right now, and your risk of ‘burnout’ can actually increase if you aren’t balancing these aspects of your life.
In terms of what we can do to combat this, I would suggest trying to separate where you do work and where you relax, so as to maintain a work-life balance. As well as this, try not to be too hard on yourself when you haven’t completed as much work as you should, because this will just add to your stress, and decrease your motivation even more. By breaking this cycle, it will be easier to catch up on work once back at school, and hopefully things will get back to normal soon enough, allowing us to continue with our lessons effectively.
